Being Human

Vampires rule television. Werewolves are quite the small-screen sweethearts. Ghosts, not so much. But put them all in one place and it can be quite an irresistible package. The BBC supernatural drama series follows the lives of ghost Annie Sawyer (Lenora Crichlow), vampire John Mitchell (Aidan Turner) and werewolf George Sands (Russell Tovey) as they try to live together as flatmates (with hilarious consequences at times) and try to adjust and blend in with the ordinary human beings around them. They are constantly threatened by exposure and struggle to deal with the dangers they pose to others. Created and written by Toby Whithouse, the series ended with the fifth season this March.

Misfits

Misfits is a British sci-fi comedy-drama about a group of young offenders who gain superpowers due to a freak thunderstorm while they are on community service. One can turn invisible, another can turn back time. One can hear thoughts of people, another can make people touching her go into a sexual frenzy. One of them, Nathan Young, seems to have no powers till he finds out that he is immortal at the end of the first season. The series was first aired on E4 in 2009 and the fifth season is due to be aired late in 2013. The show is more addictive than irresistible.

broadchurch

This British crime drama series was aired on ITV in March 2013 to overwhelming ratings. The eight-episode first season saw Detective Inspector Alec Hardy (David Tennant) and Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) investigate the death of a boy and the search for the killer in the close-knit Dorset town of Broadchurch. Even with only a few players in the small town, Chris Chibnall, the creator, kept suspense high building it up to a crescendo before the final reveal. The series focuses as much on the mystery as it does on how such an incident affects the family and people closely associated with it. A masterpiece of both suspense and drama with excellent acting from the entire cast. It has been renewed for a second season but no date has been set for release yet.

The Killing

The US remake of Danish television series Forbrydelsen by AMC follows detectives Sarah Linden and Stephen Holder as they investigate the murder of a local teenager while focusing on the teenager’s family and their difficulties in coping with the loss. Each episode focuses on 24 hours of the probe as the detectives desperately try to uncover layers of conspiracies. Unlike other crime series where investigations are over within a single episode, The Killing builds up the suspense slowly, and its gradual revelations earned the first season several Emmy Award nominations. Two seasons of the show have already been broadcast and a third premiered in June 2013.

Beware the Batman

Batman is back on television! All of us familiar with the Dark Knight’s adventures in Batman: The Animated Series can rejoice at the character’s latest animated outing on Cartoon Network this July. This series features sword specialist Katana as Batman’s teammate. Together they take down the latest and deadliest Gotham villains. Adopting a more serious tone, this series promises a darker look at Batman and if the reviews are anything to go by, the creators have been on the ball, or rather the bat! No broadcast date for India has been announced yet but Batfans have their hopes pinned on it.

The Fall

The Fall, created by Allan Cubitt, is another grim, reality-oriented British crime drama starring Gillian Anderson as detective superintendent Stella Gibson, who is sent by the Met to investigate a brutal murder in Belfast, Northern Ireland. They soon find out that it is similar to a murder that happened 18 months ago and that they are on to a serial killer. We know who the killer (Paul Spector, played convincingly by Jamie Dornan) is from the start and it is more of a psychological thriller than a whodunnit. Gillian Anderson is outstanding as the detached, methodical and career-oriented detective. The show was aired in May on RTE in Ireland and BBC Two in the UK. It has been renewed for a second season by BBC Two.

Luther

Luther is a psychological crime thriller starring Idris Elba in the role of detective chief inspector John Luther, a workaholic whose nature of work affects his life in more ways than one. As a part of the serious crimes unit he is a man with very distinct ideas of good and evil but who functions in a morally grey area. He is obsessed with his work to the extent that it affects his ability to lead a well-adjusted life. His equation with the genius, paranoid sociopathic Alice Morgan (Ruth Wilson) is also riveting. The first six-episode season was aired on BBC in 2010 and followed by two more seasons, the last of which was aired in July 2013.

defiance

This sci-fi series aired on Syfy in the US in April 2013 has the look and swagger of a Western with a lot of swearing, some sex and a lot of human and alien ass-kicking. Enough to make it every sci-fi lover’s paradise. The series is based on a futuristic earth that has gone through terraformation (radical transformation of the terrain, including topography and ecology). New life forms emerged and others became extinct or mutated making life on the planet dangerous for both humans and various aliens, collectively known as Votans, who inhabit Earth. It follows Joshua Nolan (Grant Bowler), a drifter, and his adopted Irathient daughter Irisa Nyira, who put down roots in the town of Defiance built among the ruins of St. Louis, where humans and Votans exist together. The series has been renewed for a 13-episode second season to be aired in June 2014.

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