Problem going global

It is hard to understand why people - and sometimes supernatural beings - want to take over the world.

There is nothing worse than being in charge.

As soon as the great leader steps down from the podium after celebrating his/her/its grand victory, there will always be some acolyte who will sidle up and say, ''Ahhhh, we have a little problem."

That problem will be some sort of leadership challenge, or restless alien hordes, or the vampires who led you to victory having run out of blood.

On the latest series of Being Human, in fact, it is vampires that want to take over.

They have a nice little shed down by the docks, with a drinks cabinet full of blood. They seem to have everything a bloodsucker would want. That, of course, is not enough.

"The world will never accept us willingly," the head vampire says.

The answer? Take over the world.

Quite how Being Human got to this point is a trifle beyond me. It started out harmlessly enough.

The British supernatural drama series was created by Toby Whithouse, who has written for Doctor Who and spin-off Torchwood. It began as comedy and horror drama.

It originally starred Annie (Lenora Crichlow) as a ghost, George (Russell Tovey) as a werewolf and John (Aidan Turner) as a vampire. All three were sharing a flat, and attempting to live a normal life despite being weird ghouls. It was amusing.

Series four begins on UKTV next Tuesday at 9.20pm. It may have lost the plot.

Annie and George live in South Wales with Tom, who is probably supernatural. There is a baby, who is part human and part werewolf (I think), whose mother was killed by vampires.

Episode one begins with a vision of the future - 2037 to be exact - where a small group of resistance fighters hide underground. They hear over the radio that New York has fallen. Vampires have taken over the world. Vampires will regret that, as I have explained.

Fortunately, we don't stay there long, but when we return to now, there is some nasty stuff going on at a café. There is a young Welsh fellow with bite marks on his neck, and a young werewolf fellow with a big stake, and ... well, you get the idea.

Both werewolves and vampires are young, modern and ironic, and like to text on their mobile phones when talking to their elders.

Being Human started with a fairly simple premise of flatmates living with the consequences of being different. Moving from there to taking over the world may have been a step too far.

 

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