General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Becoming Human

Becoming Human is a British supernatural drama webisode series, an online spin-off from the BBC Three television series Being Human, created by Toby Whithouse and broadcast in 2011.¹ It follows three teenage counterparts of the parent show's leads, vampire Adam Jacobs (Craig Roberts), werewolf Christa Stammers (Leila Mimmack), and ghost Matt Bolton (Josh Brown), as they meet at a fictional college and become embroiled in a murder mystery.²^•³

Key fact	Detail
Format	Online drama of eight installments, mostly five to eight minutes each, released weekly³^•⁴
Platform	BBC website and the BBC "Red Button" digital service, later compiled on BBC iPlayer³^•⁴
Run	First installment 30 January 2011, after the Being Human episode "Adam's Family"; story concluded 20 March 2011³
BBC Three broadcast	A 50-minute compilation aired on BBC Three at 9:00pm on 20 March 2011, premiering the story's conclusion⁵
Creators	Created by Toby Whithouse; written by Brian Dooley, Jamie Mathieson, and John Jackson; directed by Alex Kalymnios²^•⁶
Production	Touchpaper Wales, part of the Zodiak Media Group; produced by Hannah Thomas with Rob Pursey as executive producer²^•⁶
Audience	Over 1.5 million views on the red button and online, making it BBC Three's most successful multiplatform commission to that date⁷

Spoilers

Premise and story

Following events in Being Human series three, in which Adam first appeared in the episode "Adam's Family", the teenage vampire enrolls at a new school to get back on the straight and narrow.² There he meets Christa, a moody werewolf-in-denial, and the two befriend Matt, a shy classmate whom only they can see. Matt, it emerges, is a ghost who was murdered but cannot remember by whom, and helping him solve his own murder is the unfinished business he must settle before he can move on.³^•⁸

The structure mirrors the parent show's high-concept formula of a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost thrown together, transplanted from a shared house to a school setting.⁵ Supporting characters include the school bully Danny Curtis (John Boyega), the crime lord's daughter Brandy Mulligan (Emma Rigby), PE teacher Mr Swan (Simon Ludders), and tutor Mr Roe (Josh Cole).⁴ The investigation of suspects such as Danny and Brandy initially proves fruitless before the trio closes in on the killer in the final installment.³^•⁴

Interactive online format

The web extension went beyond the episodes themselves. The BBC commissioned it as an interactive experience: daily clues were posted on a new website linked to the Being Human blog, in the form of press cuttings, anonymous tips, CCTV footage, and mobile phone clips, so online audiences could follow and piece together the mystery as it unfolded.² Character profiles and in-universe materials written from the characters' perspectives expanded on the story.³

The BBC's 2010/11 annual report described Becoming Human as "a highly successful online drama that played alongside Being Human" as part of developing the BBC Three online offer.⁹ By March 2011 it had attracted over 1.5 million views on the red button and online, and commissioner Sarah Clay attributed the move to a BBC Three broadcast in part to fans asking for longer episodes.⁷

Broadcast history

The BBC announced the spin-off in November 2010, saying it would run for nine episodes and launch online midway through Being Human series three.² In the event, eight installments were posted, beginning after "Adam's Family" aired on 30 January 2011, with a new episode following each weekly Being Human broadcast.³ One preview described an opening installment of about 13 minutes, longer than the later five-minute episodes.¹⁰ The story concluded with the eighth installment on 20 March 2011, the same day the full 50-minute compilation aired on BBC Three.³^•⁵

The series was shot on location in Wales², and, as a low-budget production, used no original music.³

Place in the Being Human franchise and cast legacies

Becoming Human ran alongside the parent series during its 2008 to 2013 tenure on BBC Three, a supernatural comedy drama created by Toby Whithouse about a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost sharing a house.¹¹ Critics of the compilation noted that the webisode format gave the story a mini-climax roughly every seven minutes and that the character voiceovers carried over from the online installments provided extra insight, though the stitched-together broadcast was at times disjointed.⁵^•¹²

The cast included two actors who went on to wider prominence. Craig Roberts had already appeared in CBBC's Young Dracula and was cast in the film Submarine around the same time⁸, and John Boyega, later known internationally, played Danny Curtis.⁶ Retrospective coverage has highlighted the web series for featuring both performers as it adapted Being Human's themes for a younger teenage audience.¹³ No second season was produced; the series is listed as ended.⁴

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › Genre web series: horror, thriller, science fiction, and mystery

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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