BEING HUMAN: THE FIRST FILMING TRIP

FRIDAY AUGUST 17^TH (The day were were actually IN IT)

We’d all met the night before and ignored rumours of filming down on the Bay and went to dinner instead. I can’t remember where the restaurant was but trust me, there is actually a place in Cardiff that puts dogs in ovens.

First stop on Saturday  was The Café On The Corner in Newport, the work base for Hal and Tom in series four. Or Fanny’s as it was now known. Stop sniggering. Once we’d gone as far as we could in the thrilling world of bacon sarnie eating we made a move to Stokers, the Old Ones base on ‘Barry Docks’. Or we tried to anyway. Security wouldn’t let us in. Perhaps it was the crazy look in our eyes or maybe even the fact that it’s a working dockyard and they don’t let any old geeks in without notice. Either way, our chance to do ‘the Cutler shuffle’ was denied so we sauntered off, metaphorical tails between our actual legs. Next stop Tredegar…

Tredager House (every time I say that bloody word I pronounce it differently) is a mansion situated a few miles outside Newport. Except when we first pulled up the house was the least interesting thing to most of us. The ‘BH LOC’ signs were far more exciting and as we were walking to the entrance taking photos of signs and cones (yes really) a car went past us. Well I say past, it nearly ran Becca over. No one thought anything of this until Su said “Oh my God, Damien was in that car!”. Everyones reaction was the same. Yeah yeah whatever.

In we went, still ignoring Su’s claims(!) and almost immediately we saw a filming notice up. Filming was happening on a lawn outside the house (rather than a lawn inside the house?). As soon as we walked into the garden a couple of people who shall remain nameless let out massive laughs and the cast and crew turned round and looked at us. AWKWARD. Kate Bracken was there and a person who from a distance looked like a man in drag* (apologies to Amanda Hale who months later we knew to be Lady Mary). A man sauntered over to us happily and said they were in the middle of a take and could we walk through the garden and out the other end. This man I would soon know was called Pete. He was a runner. We’d see a lot more of each other over the next couple of months whether he liked it or not.

Anyway, shunned by Pete we had a look around the house and happily geeked out over rooms which have previously been used in Being Human. One room at the side had a view of the filming outside, so we planted ourselves at the window for a while much to the amusement of the guide. She’d never heard of the show. Not many people have. We knew from the notice that they were going to film in the stables so we headed there and hung around with a Dalek as the weather was turning increasingly welsh. After a short time Ryan, an assistant director turned up and had a bit of a chat with us. The filming that was due to take place there was now going to be done in “the loft” due to the heavy rain** He asked if we’d like to be in the show and that they’d be doing an “establishing shot” later if we wanted to be in it. He promised to send us a tweet when it was time but said it’d be a few hours. He wasn’t lying. Cue much tea drinking, cake eating and wondering around between showers to fill the massive wait.  During this wait came a tweet to confirm that Su was actually telling the truth. Did we apologise? Nah.

***

We got contact from Ryan and a few minutes later out came Kate and Amanda. Kate spent about five minutes with us and had to make a move. Earlier, in all the Molony love I thought I’d tweet Kate to say there were a few fans on site who would like to say hello if she was able to and she asked if that tweet was from me but can’t really remember what else was said.

Ryan took us to the garden at the front of the house, told us to hide any brands and got us to sign paperwork which essentially told us we were selling our souls to the BBC. I’ve signed a contract to Virgin mobile so I’ve done a lot worse. I was planted at a picnic nearest the camera with Su, Sam and Ellie and food was chucked at us which we were advised not to eat. Su ignored this advice. There were two or three takes and it was done. Four hours waiting for 5 minutes ‘work’.

SATURDAY 18^TH AUGUST: (The day we nearly got arrested)

There was no filming this day so we made use of our time by geeking out some more by seeing locations around Cardiff and Barry Island. Highlighted by one particular moment when we drove past a police station and Jo pointed out that it was the station used in series 3. This made some of us (ahem) positively giddy so we turned back on ourselves, got out of the car and took photos. Yes, we took photos of a police station. We got back in the car and were about to move on when we saw a very moody looking police officer walking up to us. The conversation went along the lines of..

Officer: Excuse me. Why are you taking pictures of the station

Us: *silence*

Officer: *silence*

Su: It’s because Being Human filmed scenes here

Officer: …. Riiiight..?

Su; We’re going around Barry looking at locations.

Officer: … Ok… why are you doing that?

Us: *silence and giggling*

Officer: Well, as long as your having fun I suppose

Us: BYE!

That evening we had a meal down Cardiff Bay at Bayside Brasserie, now the official restaurant of #bhfieldtrips and drinks. And more drinks. We all kind of fell in love with a barman called Chris and Sambuca became the official #bhfieldtrip drink. I can’t mention this night though without mentioning Su’s.. let’s say.. strop about Damien going back to London when she was in Cardiff. There, it’s been mentioned.

I think we went to a club and I think we got a taxi back into town. I do remember having tea until very early at Sleeperz with Jo and Becca and I do for some reason remember being besotted when Becca rubbed the carpet with her toes (not a euphamism). I must have still been drunk. I don’t even like feet. I got back to my hotel at…

And we had agreed to meet at 7.30am. Doh.

SUNDAY 19^TH AUGUST (The day of the night shoot)

What was left of the gang (to clarify, some had gone home, they were still alive) spent the morning location spotting in Bristol (The Facility, BE Edwards, Pink house etc). We were welcomed with open and slightly sarcastic arms at the New Found Out and got some pictures behind the bar.

Then there were three, myself, Jo and Indigo decided to get a taxi to Tredegar as we knew there would be more filming. In contrast to Friday it was a beautiful sunny day so it was pleasant to be sat around while filming was going on inside**** Soon they were setting up lights outside the forecourt so we had a nose around. We started walking behind a man in military gear. If he wasn’t shooting for Being Human then he was certainly eccentric. We met Issy for the first time, a chauffeur for the cast and the happiest man I’ve EVER met.

So from 7pm we saw this man and a woman (Lady Catherine) rehearsing a fight scene until it started getting dark. Then they shot Catherine running up to the house***** and then back to shooting the fight scene proper****** For a bit we were watching from outside the forecourt but Ryan invited us in so we were watching from closer. Ryan told us it was the very first scene of the series and teased us by waving the whole script of episode one before us.  During a gap in proceedings the director Philip John had a chat with us and we were soon invited to watch from behind the monitors. Once we were in the forecourt we stopped taking photos for obvious reasons. The fight scene took three hours to do and was filmed from many angles. They used a temperamental smoke machine for the moment Catherine staked the guard. Our theory that she was a vampire were proved completely wrong months later. It’s sad that the scene didn’t make the final cut but it’s totally understandable given that Hal and Catherine also have a fight scene and both would have been before the credits. They wrapped up at midnight and cold but very happy we made our way back to the hotels.

It’s no exaggeration to say that without the information Su found on Thursday night  we would have had a filming weekend without any filming and we were all happy with a productive weekend. That’ll be that I told myself and let’s wait to see the series next year. Except it wasn’t that easy. I’d got the bug. The set lurking bug.. thing. Little did I know quite how badly though…

* Episode 3 scene; Alex and Lady Mary at the tyre swings

** Episode 3 scene. Alex and Lady Mary in the bedroom

*** Damien had been filming the episode 3 scenes with Alex and Mary at the house before we got there.

**** The pre credits Hal/Catherine scene in episode 1

***** Episode 1, scene 1

****** DVD deleted scene

This Is The Science Fiction Bit, Concentrate…

So here we are on the cusp of the series 5 DVD release, a mixture of forlorn, confused, surprising hunger and randiness. It’s time to ponder exactly how Being Human ended. Toby Whithouse revealed that there would be an exclusive scene which tells us more even though he wanted to leave it open. He’s a contradictory fellow sometimes. Personally I hope the scene adds to the mystery and doesn’t put a full stop on things. It would be criminal to put an ending to a show in a DVD extra. For the record, here are my thoughts. I thought it was best to work through the episode backwards, sort of like Eve but without the corridors and plan to save the world. Here goes:

The final ever shot in Being Human (sob) is a panning shot of the mantelpiece that ends on THAT origami werewolf and once there the camera tilts. The camera was tilted on the Devil throughout the episode in solo scenes. It’s here that we have to decide whether our trinity really did become human after the ritual or if they had been put into an alternate reality. My verdict is the latter because Being Human has rarely done happy endings and Hal certainly does not deserve a happy ending no matter what redemption he tried to pursue, he had evil at his core and lied and manipulated to his own ends. In series 2 Kemp referred to werewolves, like Vampires as a work of the Devil so yes, we can justifiably accept that Tom loses his curse as a result. Alex however is a whole other kettle of ball games. At no stage has it been inferred that ghosts are the work of the Devil and them becoming human (good title, they should name a TV show that, a spin off maybe?) and the logistics of it are too crazy to handle if this is true. What about all the ghosts who hadn’t found their doors yet? Are they all suddenly human? Same for the Wolves and Vamps? Or did the ritual just affect the trio? Surely if they had defeated the big bad himself then by mythology alone all with the curses will be set free.

Lastly and most obviously – YOU CANNOT DEFEAT THE DEVIL for a surplus of reasons. Hatch hasn’t been described as part of the devil or even a demon – he is THE Devil (something they should never have done in my opinion). Once you defeat the ultimate evil, what then? Everybody skipping around fields, smiling in the sunshine? Nah thanks. Early in the series Hal mentioned that “Evil always passes on” and a happy ending would have meant an end to evil.

So why do I think Captain Hatch shouldn’t have been the Devil? Realism for one. Yes, yes, I  know it’s a supernatural show but it always had it’s core set in realism and the threats were very real. I judge it by this basis: Would they ever have done God? Think about it.. God as a character in Being Human. Wouldn’t have happened would it? Same should have gone for the devil. The leap was just too high and I know this was partly forced on them due to being the last series. In series 4 we were introduced to a succubus who we heard was the daughter of a demon and it would have been good progress for the Captain to be a Demon, a very powerful demon of course.

In the TV studio Rook shoots Hatch just after his spirit leaves the body and it flees into him. Looking back, we are not even sure that what is happening now is real. The crux of the show for me is what precedes it. The Captain sends the trio into three different realities and they resist this temptation for a better life. Or so it seems. My theory, as it stands today anyway, is that when Hal, Tom and Alex reappear back in the studio they are now in an alternate reality. He put them together like they wanted, add to that the suspicious lighting at Honolulu later with Hal seemingly knowing that something is up. Also there are too many hints throughout to just ignore. “What’s wrong with living in a dream if it’s better than reality” being just one of many. There is a question that bugged me though. Why didn’t Hatch whisper into their ears and force them to commit suicide? But then what if he actually did? Was their commitment to be with each other them signing their own death warrants? Perhaps it doesn’t work in the same on super naturals as humans, he couldn’t kill them his normal way so he sent them somewhere else while he could get on with destroying the world. Did he do this because he knew they would ultimately perform the ritual and this was the best way to get rid of them?

Here is my verdict. Rook got his job back (we know this to be true, probably) and while the trinity are in their own world it is down to the men in grey to do battle with the devil. I can’t decide if it’s a joint alternate or maybe Hal or Toms’ but I’m siding with joint. I also like the idea that they are permanently trapped inside Honolou Heights but I sense that with (a little) inside knowledge that this may not be the case. Say no more. Say no more.

Of course, I don’t leave it at that do I? Then I got thinking what if… are you ready for this? What if when Captain Hatch sent Alex to her grave at the end of episode five it was an alternate reality from THAT moment? It’s crazy of course but you never know. No really, we have no idea. And then I got thinking some more. Tully made Annie an origami swan in series one episode two so I’ve now got a whole new theory: Everything from series one, episode two has been set in an alternate reality.

Your welcome.