America Gets "Being Human"

Published on October 30, 2009 by Craig Sharp · View Comments

being_human_4 Adding to America’s Television-Vampire stock, SyFy have picked up the rights for an Americanised version of the BBC’s hit series, BEING HUMAN.

The channel will produce a 13 episode series of the show, which tells the story of three young housemates – a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost. This from THR:

The original series, produced by RDF subsidiary Touchpaper TV and executive produced by Rob Pursey, had an initial six-episode run on digital channel BBC Three. It was so successful that the show got a second window on mothership BBC One. It is slated to return early next year for an eight-episode second season.

The deal for a U.S. take on the show at Syfy marks the first scripted series order for the cable network following its rebranding this summer designed to attract broader audience. It also marks the first scripted series order for RDF Media USA.

“Human” appeared on Syfy’s radar about two years ago when the network was given the pilot script by the BBC, which was seeking to bring in the U.S. cable network in as co-producer. It was too late in the process, so Syfy brass passed but became instant fans of the material.

“It turned out great as we can now do an American version,” Syfy president Dave Howe said. “We’ve always been keen on vampires and werewolves, and we loved the originality of ‘Being Human,’ the fact that the fantastical creatures in it are very young, accessible and charming.”

Howe stressed that Syfy is not going to “slavishly replicate the British version.” Some of network’s core audience already might be familiar with the original series, which runs in the U.S. on BBC America.

THR also state that the hunt is on for a writer to tackle the series, so sharpen your pencils fang fans!