“Being Human” on SYFY Network

A Vampire, A Werewolf, & A Ghost Try “Being Human” on Syfy

Being Human on the Syfy Channel chronicles the lives of three people in their twenties trying to navigate the struggles of ordinary life. Only they aren’t ordinary at all. Life is complicated by the fact that they’re a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost who share a Boston brownstone.

Based on the British series that received acclaimed when it aired on BBC America, Being Human is emotional, romantic, frightening, and features biting wit, of course.

Fans of the show find it quite relatable, as the stories explore what it means to be to be human through the eyes of three supernatural outsiders who share a home and their secrets with each other.

Sam Witwer, who plays Aidan the vampire, smiles when he acknowledges that the premise of the show “sounds like an old familiar joke that starts off like ‘a werewolf, a vampire, and a ghost walk into a bar.’ But we’re going to blow your mind with originality and surprises on the show.”

Meaghan Rath, who plays Sally the ghost, says, “There’s originality to the show, and we’re bringing something fresh with ourselves, and go our own direction with it. From the first moment you tune in, you will connect with the characters quickly.”

Relationships between the stars of the show happened quickly too. Witwer says, “The chemistry thing was very strange, because we bonded with each other immediately, and somehow knew how to work with each other. We somehow understood where each performance was meant to be. We also like each other quite a bit.”

Taking a lot more time is the painstaking special effects process, especially for Sam Huntington, who plays Josh the werewolf.

Huntington says, “We do a lot with the makeup effects on the show. It has been quite a laborious process. Many hours in makeup very early in the morning.”

Huntington explains, “I have lots of stuff to cover. At first it was actually a five hour process to get into the chest and the back. And that was really tough because it was the first thing that they’d put on you, at four o’clock in the morning.”

“It sucked. You have to stand there. You can’t sit, because they’re gluing it to your whole torso. The process sucked. And then the face was another two hours. But doing the hands was only about 45 minutes. Beyond that, the body paint is very extensive.”

Then they would shoot all day. Some days filming lasted 20 hours. “But luckily we had very few of those days,” says Huntington.

The series is filmed in Montreal, Canada, with executive producers and writers Jeremy Carver and Anna Fricke as the show runners.

Mark Pellegrino, who played the mysterious deity-like Jacob character on Lost, also gets to sink his teeth into a vampire role on Being Human.

Pellegrino plays Bishop, Aidan’s 300 year-old father who is the leader of the vampire clans in Boston. He does his best to tempt his reluctant son to join in the family business.

But Aidan’s new family of house-mates tries to help him find his own path in life – or the after-life, to be more accurate.