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Back in early 2008, a series of pilots aired on BBC3 as part of an attempt to rebrand the channel, with the aim that one would be commissioned for a full series. Amongst the programmes shown rested a real gem – Being Human, a comedy drama about a flatshare between a ghost, a werewolf and a vampire, which is now entering its third series as one of BBC3’s most successful shows. Now, the powers that be are trying a similar experiment with three new pilots.
The first, Pulse, probably has the most in common with Being Human – a mixture of the mundane and the supernatural, and a writer who’s worked for Doctor Who. Paul Cornell has only written two stories for Doctor Who, but they’re among the very best, in particular series three’s ‘Human Nature’ two-parter. Pulse is more horror than sci-fi; set in a hospital, the tale deals with the mystery surrounding a patient who has beaten cancer five times even though it keeps returning in the same place. One of the doctors is giving him some strange-looking injections, a fact that worries Hannah, a medical student who has just returned from a year off after some odd behaviour following the death of her mother - who keeps popping up in mirrors, amongst other things.
I really wanted to like Pulse. The first five minutes or so did concern me, as it felt like every horror cliché surrounding mysterious doctors and operations was thrown at the screen. But after that it became something more; the tension of the shady goings on nicely juxtaposed with the more Holby City style relationships of the doctors. There were some genuinely gory moments and a few jumpy ones, although it might not have been so tense had I not been watching it in the dark at 2am. I wasn’t sure how it being both a pilot and a stand-alone drama would work, but it was nicely balanced – enough revelation to intrigue, but with plenty left for a full series. The acting varied in quality a bit, but Claire Foy makes a great lead and Ben Miles can always be relied upon to bring a series some class.
I enjoyed Pulse more once I forgot about Being Human. I remember the excitement I felt the first time I watched Being Human, as it was just so unexpected, so brilliant and new. Pulse is something different, drawing on a more established tradition and trying to do it in a different way on a smaller budget. Even without seeing next week’s pilots, I expect Pulse will get a full series, and I look forward to seeing what the creators do with it. It's not Being Human, but it could be just as good in its own way.
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