BEING HUMAN: LENORA CRICHLOW (ANNIE)

On Being Human (debuting July 25th on BBC America), Lenora Crichlow plays insecure ghost Annie, who meets George (a werewolf) and Mitchell (a vampire) when they move into the apartment she shared with her fiance -- which she subsequently died in. When she first read the scripts, Lenora was intrigued by the idea behind it. "It was pitched to me by my agent as a ghost, a werewolf and a vampire sharing a house, and I thought, 'That's a bit out there.'

   But the combination of an original story grounded firmly in real life immediately impacted on Lenora. "I thought it was really funny and it was a script with heart. It's really quirky and light in some places, but it's got quite a dark undertone. It's just a really fresh take on dealing with life."

   Lenora believes that the characters are also very appealing, and that everyone will be able to tap into some part of each of them. "All the characters' unusual qualities are grounded in real stuff — addiction, self-esteem, anger, love — all of them are dealing with being human, just on a really extreme scale."

   Annie and Mitchell share a very strong relationship, which Leonora describes as almost paternal. "Mitchell is the father figure or older brother of the house; he's kind of in charge and Annie looks to him to make sure everything's OK. He gives her a lot of reassurance and she feels safe in his presence. He's so old, he's been there, done it all. He seems to be a bit more knowing. He's there for Annie; he's her rock."

   On working with Aidan Turner (Mitchell) and Rusell Tovey (George), Leonora says, "They're wicked. I couldn't ask for two better guys to be working with. we spend time together off set and on set — they're both very brilliant and I love watching their work. I think we really have a lovely chemistry... I'm going to stop gushing now."