Ever wondered whether Vampires have Ghosts? We’ve seen in those final moments the victims of vampiric blood lust being shuffled towards an unassuming door but what about the pointy teethed ones themselves?

Is the transformation so horrific that the human is completely purged away? Or are their human spirits forced to watch their former packaging tearing the throat out of a sad sack bus driver? What kind of moral compass could you be to yourself in that situation? Could your human soul save you now there’s nothing human left to empathize with?

Up until now, in the case of Hal – the hermetically sealed vampire replacement for the departed Mitchell – its been difficult to pinpoint what kind of human he once was.

His manner points to a character older than the 1955 garb but up until tonight’s Hal centric episode The Graveyard Shift he’s been little more than a convenient plot device – like Mitchell he seems to be admired for his appetite in humans but unlike him, there’s been a subtle shift in what he, and Being Human is about – its no longer humans coping with being monsters, its monsters struggling to be human.

Forced to work together Tom and Hal’s hesitant, testing relationship is an absolute joy – coming from two very different backgrounds; a regal, haughty old world gentleman forced to deal with the living hell that is the service industry and a practical, no nonsense, raised in a van, street kid who occasionally backs up this philosophy with the odd stake to the heart – its great to see the little connections between the two form as ultimately Hal decides who’s side he’ll take.

Their entire friendship is based on mutual distrust and most of the comedy comes from neither one of them willing to concede anything. After Hal double crosses and then stakes Fergus, you get the feeling that Hal has earned the right to sit down for a cup of tea in front of the Antiques Roadshow with Tom.

Its not quite the same dynamic – and, yes the episode was a pretty shameless trip through all the traits that make Being Human what it is (the wit, the clash of styles, the brilliant guest stars) but its one that’s slowly becoming more intriguing.

Caught in the middle of all this alpha male bonding is Michaela, an over the top parody of ‘deep and meaningful’ Emo types who unwittingly but ultimately utterly willing entrant into the supernatural world – Laura Patch easily fits into that category of great Being Human guest spots and her eventual salvation hopefully leaves the door open for her character to return.

Annie however seems to be taking her ‘we shall not be moved’ stances as a sign to take leave of her common sense. Twice she takes baby Eve out in a public place even after she had been warned by the sadly departed Fergus about doing just that.

Fergus’s warning forces Annie to doubt her choice to stay which thankfully gives us a little more time with the excellent Mark Williams playing the Vampire Recorder, Regus, who in a delightfully sleazy scene gets to relive Annie’s first time, albeit from Annie’s point of view.

Regus’ reasoning for betraying his kind doesn’t really make sense but if it gets Williams a little more screen time then its a fair compromise. Despite the occasional misstep, so far this season has written out three of its stars, introduced the end of Vampires as a race and, now with tonight’s episode, seamlessly ushered in a brand new, completely involving line up.

In terms of the overall series arc The House of the Vampires are down another leader perhaps paving the way for Cutler and his focus group lead outing of the werewolves to usher in the war on mankind.

With the monster temporarily united under one roof and the series back on more assured ground here’s hoping it can maintain the momentum of this episode.

Andrew Reynolds