“You could call Survivors sci-fi,” says series star Freema Agyeman (Dr. Who), “but first and foremost it’s a very powerful human drama. It’s very raw and it feels real. People will watch it and imagine how they might react in the same situation. Do we know ourselves well enough to know how we would handle it?”

In the first episode, panic sets in and hoarding begins as the virus runs rampant through the city.

“Survivors is about what it means to be human,” says writer and executive producer Adrian Hodges (co-creator and writer of Primeval). “It asks questions about our nature and confronts us with our deepest fears. When everything else is stripped away, would we band together and find the best in ourselves, or would we fall apart and retreat into barbarism and savagery?”

Speaking of Being Human, BBC America has picked up a second season of the series. It will go to air this summer, but you can watch a sneak peek right now at their website.

Watch Survivors, Saturdays at 9:00 on BBC America.

Survivors – Najid (Chahak Patel), Al (Phillip Rhys), Samantha (Nikki Amuka- Bird), Greg (Paterson Joseph), Abby (Julie Graham), Tom (Max Beesley), Jenny (Freema Agyeman), David (Shaun Dingwall) and Anya (Zoe Tapper)

Photo Credit: BBC

Post from: SF Universe

Though it sounds like the plot of a bad sitcom, Being Human is actually a startlingly real and emotional TV series that shows the very best and the very worst of our species.

Now, the company that produced the series is preparing a 13 episode American reboot to premiere on Syfy in Summer 2010.

“Being Human is a smart, contemporary, young and imaginative series that reflects Syfy’s new brand positioning. We are very excited to adapt this for an American audience and bring it into Syfy’s family of programming,” said Syfy president Dave Howe.

Mark Stern, Executive Vice President, Original Content for Syfy and Co-Head, Original Content for Universal Cable Productions added, “We’ve loved this project and been tracking it for a while. Being Human definitely distinguishes itself as something new and different in a landscape filled with familiar supernatural fare. In adapting it, we intend to work closely with RDF to keep the wit, insight, and humor of the original, while opening up the series for a new audience.”

“We’re incredibly proud of our British series and had a tremendous amount of interest in adapting the project for the States. With Syfy’s unwavering passion and dedication for the show, we’re confident it can be as successful here as it is in the UK,” said Chris Coelen, CEO of RDF Media USA.

Personally, I’m very curious about this idea of remaking a series for American audiences. We tried it with The Office and it worked, but Kath & Kim was a huge failure, and what happened to the US version of AbFab?

Being Human has a pretty basic plot that isn’t influenced by the country of origin, so adapting it should be pretty simple — as long as they manage to keep the balance between the dark sense of humor and the “human” drama.

Photo: Being Human from BBC America

Post from: SF Universe

Being Human is a quirky mix of daily living comedy with the angst of the paranormal drama.

Here’s the lowdown:

George (Russell Tovey) and Mitchell (Aidan Turner) work in anonymous drudgery as hospital porters. They lead lives of quiet desperation under the burden of a terrible secret—Mitchell’s a vampire and George a werewolf. Deciding to start life afresh and leave behind the dark side, they move into a house, only to find that Annie, the ghost of a woman killed in mysterious circumstances, haunts it. As the monster threesome deals with the challenges of their new life together, they’re united in their desire to blend in with their human neighbors.

By all appearances, George is a mild-mannered and geeky guy – except for one night a month when he’s a flesh-hungry, predatory werewolf. Mitchell is good-looking, laid-back and, unlike George, has an easy confidence with the ladies. But he’s also suffering withdrawal from the blood he craves. Annie (Lenora Crichlow) is chatty, insecure and desperate for company and now that death has separated them, she longs for her fiancé, who owns the house she haunts.

But with unwelcome intruders into their world, a threatened revolution from the vampire underworld and constant threats of exposure – on top of the day-to-day issues faced by young people – the only thing they may be able to rely on in their heightened world, is each other.

Like all supernaturally-based TV shows, producer Matthew Bouch and writer Toby Whithouse had to find a way of making fantastical creatures function in the real world.

“We had to re-imagine how these supernatural creatures would be if they really did exist. We have very real and human characters with adult dilemmas, placed in a fantasy context,” says Matthew.

Toby concurs, “Jason Watkins in the role of Herrick looks incredibly normal and human, but as soon as he starts speaking, he gives across this undercurrent of evil, ambition and cruelty.  We wanted to give the vampires a much more convincing and realistic cover story. I like the idea of suggesting that there is some kind of underworld, another life, another story that is going on in the world that we’re unaware of – that’s hidden. I wrote an episode of Doctor Who a couple of years ago that was set in a school.  The Monday after it transmitted I heard reports that teachers were walking out to the front of their class and saying, ‘Physics, physics, physics’, which is what the Doctor said.  It made the kids wonder if their teachers were really aliens.”

Mark your calendars for the US premiere of Being Human, Saturday, July 25 on BBCAmerica.

Photo: BBC

Post from: SF Universe