h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I missed this the first time around and wasn't too fussed, but I've been watching it on the iPlayer (*love* the iPlayer) this summer and my word, it's really something special.

I've just watched the 4th episode and it's absolutely blown me away, I'm sat here and 20 minutes after it ended I'm rocking in my chair repeating ing hell, over and over just because of how powerful it was. That's twice this year the Beeb has got me doing this, Torchwood being the other one time.

I just had to express my feelings. If you haven't seen it and like good, dark drama, you have to watch it.

ing hell...

ah good - another devotee.

George.

Looking forward to season 2....


(remind me - which episode was that one?)

Wait a minute...this *is* the repeat of S1, isn't it? I'd hate to think I'd missed 4 episodes of S2 It looked like things were going to kick off in S2.

Superb! I'm not usually someone who likes vampires etc...but if you want a *great* vampire flick...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1139797/

It is the first series. It's being showed in a graveyard slot on BBC1 and I spotted it on the iPlayer during the school hols while I was desperate for entertainment.

I've got a bit of a thing for vampires (I grew up on Buffy ) but this is so much more than that. The sheer calibre of writing and acting - it's just stunning drama.

It's now been almost an hour and I'm still buzzing from what I've just watched. Seriously, who needs drugs or booze when there's this?

Clive, it's when Mitchell befriends the little kid and Annie becomes a poltergeist.

Mitchell's making a deal with the devil, yeah?

>>who needs drugs or booze when there's this?

Well I had half a earlier, I'm drinking twice-as-expensive-as-usual Argentinian wine and watching The Beatles on BBC4. That's a buzz!

I'll have the other half when the kids have gone to bed. And maybe another one.

Ed if you're after new stuff, there's some new videos for the second series on the microsite: http://www.bbc.co.uk/beinghuman/

The things that's getting to me is that I can't say what Mitchell did was wrong, and how messed up is that? How brilliant is something that makes you come down on those sides of moral dilemmas?

And George breaking down into his missus' lap - just superlative acting.

Damn! I read the first phrase and thought for a minute I'd found a bew supplier.

Yeah...just seen the microsite. may watch after The Beatles.

This is our Folk Music, HI.

bew? new.

Just watched episode 5. That's it, I'm going straight for Lenora Critchlow. =

I really didn't expect it to live up to last weeks ep, but if anything it was better. This one had me in absolute floods and such a brilliant cliffhanger.

Henrick is an amazing villain - the coldness, the brutality and yet the mundaneness at the same time. Bloody awesome.

Only one more ep to go until I'm waiting for the next series.

Herrick's finest moment for me was in the first episode, where he is in his full police garb, reflective jacket and all.

And Mitchell tells him about his teetotalism and ends " I don't expect you to understand"

And Herrick, quick as a whip: "Good. I don't."

Is Leonora the Vampire? (If so...yes...)

No, she's the ghost who may or may not have crossed over at the end of this episode.

One of the things I really love about the show is how theatrical it is, how it relies on really simple effects and staging. The scene where the door appeared and Annie was trying to decide whether to go through it was stunning.

Other shows might use CGI and special effects and spooky noises. All Being Human used was a door and the superlative acting skills of the cast. Annie pleading with George not look as she went through was superb and genuinely moving.

ooh no...too twee. Too drippy. But the vampire was well fit!

She's a bit drippy, but I kinda like that. And I really liked her she finally found her confidence, standing up for herself and scaring the out of Owen.

Ah ...yes Owen.

I shall say no more....

Just realised that given all the crap that was going on at the time, I never posted my thoughts about the final episode of this. It should be taken as a mark of its quality that I can remember with absolute clarity my feelings.

I thought it was absolutely superb. I'm glad Annie () decided to stay and I liked that that gave her such powers - it made sense to me: turning down the chance to move on was such a powerful statement. I loved her attack on the funeral parlour and especially the line "Well, it's good to see you mastered talking like a [pregnant fish]" Her character development, from weak and afraid to absolute powerhouse was good, just not sure where they're going to take it in S2.

Mitchell was a bit bland in this episode, I think he was overshadowed by the others. But a bland Mitchell is still far more interesting than almost any other character on any other show.

But George , poor sweet George, I love him so much. His heroism, his sacrifice were too moving for words. I was crying when he gave his speech to Herrick. I like the cliffhanger with Nina - is she a werewolf now? George will never be able to forgive himself if she is.

Herrick was a superb villain - so cold and so ordinary. Did anyone else notice how he hardly ever blinked and never seemed to turn his neck - if he looked around at someone, he turned his entire torso. Slowly. Little things like that add huge amounts.

And yet again, I like how physical, how evocative the show is: when the vampires are talking about burning down the house and dancing around it, and Annie talked about defending it, I could see it clearly: I could almost feel the heat from the flames.

I really can't wait until Season 2, especially after Owen...

'The banality of Evil' as Hannah Arendt called it. I once met a man who'd (not allegedly!) hacked somebody to pieces with a machete. Very polite and well spoken. Snappy dresser.

>>I like the cliffhanger with Nina<<

I thought the wolf's eye at the door for the pay-off to that twist was beautifully executed.

Now to answer your questions

Yes she is.

and

No, he won't.

Also Herrick's end was brutally simple.

Rip. Tear. Bounce.