Being Human

Eleven, 9.30pm

Being Human

Distancing itself from the dominant titles of the teen vampire craze - promising no swamps, small towns or high school dances - this slick slasher series is pitched at a more grown-up bloodsucker enthusiast. Unlike the vocal minority who terrorise the townsfolk in True Blood, these undead are very much in the closet about their tendencies. Tall, dark and alabaster Aidan (Sam Witwer, Dexter) and shy, awkward Josh (Sam Huntington, Superman Returns) are twentysomething monsters working as nurses in a Boston hospital, where they must fight their compulsion to ''eat live'', something with which Josh, a werewolf, appears to have more success than Aidan, a vampire, as the opening scene reveals. Their shared desire for a relatively normal existence between their monthly ''curse'', as Josh puts it, leads them to rent a house with a cellar in which they plan to sit out their murderous urges. It soon becomes apparent that they are not the only lost souls wandering the corridors and the scene is set for a Halloween version of Man about the House. Snappy dialogue packed with cheeky pop-culture references lightens a familiar subtext of loneliness, grief and addiction. These unwilling killers are just trying to fit in.