‘Being Human’ Creator Toby On The Finale
U.K. fans figured Aidan Turner’s bloodsucker Mitchell wasn’t long for the show the second Peter Jackson cast the actor in The Hobbit. But did they also assume he wasn’t long for the world? Perhaps… primarily because the majority of this current season centered on a prophecy that Mitchell (who murdered 20 people on a Bristol train) would be slain by a werewolf — the knowledge of which sent him spiraling from a determined hero to paranoid lunatic. Not even the love of a good woman — or ghost, i.e. Lenora Crichlow’s Annie — could save him. (If you haven’t seen the final episode, it’s probably best to stop reading now. Spoilers ahead!)
Yet, Mitchell’s mercy killing at the hands of wolf-buddy George (Russell Tovey) in Saturday’s finale still hurt. Bad. Maybe it was all the tears and “I love yous” between the pair and flatmate Annie, or that new evil vampire Wyndam (Lee Ingleby) popped up at the last minute to unsuccessfully keep Mitchell alive as his henchman. Either way, it was brutal watching one of the roomies, literally, turn to dust in the wind — so EW called Being Human creator/executive producer Toby Whithouse to talk about why Mitchell couldn’t have just retired to South America, if we can expect new vamps in his place, and what could have happened if he lived.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: When did you know you were going have to write Mitchell out of the show?
TOBY MITCHELL: To be honest, the first time I met Aidan. I knew he was somebody we’d only be borrowing from movie stardom. In the U.S. you’ll contract actors for seven seasons — we don’t have the finances to do that. So every time we start a new series, we have to renegotiate with the actors and see whom we have left. Sure enough, Peter Jackson came along and saw Aidan and whisked him away to New Zealand. The thing is, I was kind of preparing myself for that on series 2 when I wrote the sequence where he kills all those people on the train. I always knew that would ultimately be the reason for the character’s exit, whether it happened at the end of series 3 or 33.
April 20th, 2011
Does anyone now more about Aidan’s family history? He also mentioned in an article somewhere (because I don’t remember where) that he got into acting because of his cousin who is an actor. Does anyone know the name of the cousin?
Just being curious
Thanks Donna
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June 20th, 2011
I love the show I bought all 3 seasons and watch them over and over and I love all the cast bust mitchel is my favourite the show will not be the same if he is not in season 4 im sure I’m not the only one who feels like this and there should be a way for him to come back I hope he does
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June 24th, 2011
I am sooooooooooooooo disappointed that Aiden will not be back on the show. I love the BBC version and refuse to watch the American version. Hopefully the show will still be great without him, but I doubt it. I’ll still be a loyal American fan.
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