It’s official – Being Human gets fifth series after shock finish, teases new plot

The BBC’s supernatural drama, Being Human, has been officially renewed for a fifth series after what was, to say the least, an interesting final episode last night. If you haven’t seen it then you won’t want to read any further as it will spoil the ending. If you have seen it, or if you don’t mind spoilers, read on….

Will Annie be back making her cups of tea in series five?

As expected Annies door finally appeared after her unexpected act of heroism in which she saved the world from the old ones, wrapping up the Eve situation in a shocking and unexpected act of self sacrifice that saw Annie being responsible for the baby meeting a very violent end, something that will no doubt divide some fans but which was definitely a brave and unexpected move, and one that opens the door for a new enemy to emerge in series five – as teased yesterday on the official Being Human blog with an interesting new photo.

Posting a picture of the cryptic phrase “he will rise” written on a scrap of vampire parchment it’s the BBC’s nod towards the plot of series five, but just what does it mean? It’s written on what appears to be the same material as the war child prophecy so the first thought would be that it refers to a vampire, that Mister Snow will somehow rise from the dead (it happened with vampire Herrick in series three so it is possible).

But is it really mister Snow?

Eagle eyed fans may have noticed the presence of a young girl (possibly an old one) being taken out of the building before the explosion. It could well be that she has something to do with the person who “will rise”, she was certainly important in some way given that she was being protected from harm.

Could it be the mysterious mister Rook? Perhaps but then he isn’t meant to be nasty, after all he never harmed any of those who saw Tom transform, and if the mystery figure hinted at is indeed the new bad guy Mister Rook would seem an unlikely choice although it is clear he will play a key role in it.

Will Hal and Alex be more than friends in series five, as Mitchell and Annie were in series three?

Whatever secrets series five holds there will of course need to be an explanation as to just how vampires such as Hal still exist given that Eve is dead, but it’s probable that the answer will be tied in with the new mystery character and that with Annie gone Alex will take over as the shows resident ghost.

But fans of Annie needn’t be downhearted as she may well return, when telling her that she couldn’t go back Eve added that all important line “but then you were never one for following the rules”, hinting that she will indeed be brewing her tea in Barry again sometime in the future.

Will the new series continue with the trips between future present and past or will it return to form with a formidable new enemy for what is effectively “being human – the next generation” to confront?

Time, of course, will tell but the final episodes have shown that there’s still life in the show and it’s good to see that, as fans hoped, the BBC still have faith in it.

Fangs a lot – fans throw Being Human a lifeline

The Being Human audience grew to a healthier 862,000 for episode four before falling again to 820,000 viewers for last weeks episode meaning that although the number of people watching it has still fallen considerably since the first episode aired, the overall figures show some fans are returning to the show and giving it a much needed increase in ratings. It’s not a lot but it’s a shot in the arm for the popular series and something it needs more of.

The figures fell every week until episode four, which saw the mysterious Kirby arrive at the house with a message from Nina, which saw them rise again before falling again for the return of Adam in episode five. Will they continue to fall or will this increase in overall ratings continue?

Did Kirby's mind games bring back the fans?

It’s not uncommon for the first and last episodes of a returning show to get the highest viewing figures, viewers naturally want to know how things pick up from the previous series and how they conclude, but a look at the episodes that stopped the down turn show an interesting factor in common.

The Kirby episode was advertised as being about a ghost who returned to help Annie and had a message from Nina, and the following episode brought back a former character from series three, teen vampire Adam.

Its likely, based on the viewing figures, that fans were hoping to see the return of werewolf Nina in some way (even if only as a ghostly cameo), she was after all mentioned as sending Kirby to help Annie in the run up to the episode airing, but there was no Nina and it seems some of the fans who tuned back in decided again to give up on the show, resulting in another drop, but that enough watched the next episode, which they knew really would feature a returning character (Adam), that it was enough to stop the figures dropping as dramatically as they had.

With two episodes left it’s likely the figures will stabilize, though the reintroduction of time travelling Eve in the next episode may put some off, and that as result the series overall audience figures will average out at around 780,000 per episode (based on all figures to date and with an extrapolated increase for the final episode).

The previous series averaged over 1.2 million viewers per episode (only one episode ever had an audience share of under one million) but even allowing for a likely increase of viewers for the remaining episodes this series will have performed far worse in the ratings. Will this cause Being Human to be cancelled?

Will Eve win Annie over?

It’s too early to say, and there has been no word on it yet from the BBC, but while it’s borderline for the show it would make sense for the BBC to commission another series and have that series end in such a way that, should audience figures be consistently low, they could at least wrap it up with a solid finish. Whether they will or not remains to be seen but one thing’s for sure, the sometimes farcical subplot of the time travelling Eve seems to be a key factor in putting off a number of fans.

So here’s hoping they make one more series, and drop the off putting story of a time travelling ghost (Eve saying she has “travelled through her own lifetime” immediately brings to mind cult sci fi classic Quantum Leap whose title sequence used the almost identical phrase and which again suggests that Being Human is borrowing ideas from the world of science fiction and trying to fit them, somewhat unsuccessfully, into the Being Human universe).

Back to that Eve storyline, and just what will happen in the final episodes?

It would seem, based on the trailers and episode guides (and Annies advice from her neighbour in last nights episode) that the show will end with Annie having to choose whether or not to kill the baby and that Hal, despite the burnt arm, may actually be the one who saves her (Eve has been trying to kill the baby, and as the man with the burnt arm Hal is Eves nemesis but the reason could be because he stops her plan to kill the baby. After all a nemesis usually stops someones plans, not help them along, and if Hal is her nemesis he can’t also be the one to kill her as this would be helping her plan succeed and would of course make him an ally, not a nemesis).

This would indeed create a great cliffhanger, Annie crying as she is about to kill the baby and Hal getting in the way as the weapon (possibly one of Toms stakes) heads toward the crying child, the camera stopping as the weapon sinks into Hal or as he lies dying on the floor with Annie  about to try again.

Annie faces a tough decision in the final episode

Whatever happens you can be sure that as usual the final episode will get a good audience and leave them on the edge of their seats wanting more. But if the Eve situation is left unresolved and carries on into a new series it’s likely to be the death blow that finally fells the show. Last night it delivered a less Eve-centric episode and, until her appearance at the end, it felt much more like it used to. Hopefully the producers will wrap the series up by resolving the time travel aspect and returning to concentrating on the interplay between the characters which is when the show is at it’s best.