Being Human: five reasons why BBC3's drama is essential viewing

Don't even think of dismissing it as a British True Blood knock off. Being Human, which follows the misadventures of a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost in a Bristol flatshare, is far more than that – it's Britain's best homegrown cult drama, and BBC3's biggest-ever hit. And this Sunday it kicks off its second series. You can keep up the action via our in-depth episode blogs that will be posted after the shows – but to tempt those of you who missed the first series, here's five reasons why Being Human is unmissable television.

1. You already know it will be good

What do you mean, this recommendation alone is not enough? Being Human's very existence stems from a online petition, and when the controllers listened to their public, they found themselves with a BBC3 audience that regularly edged towards an unprecedented 1m viewers. Not convinced? There's a Facebook group where 38,000 people follow the finest details of its production. When the cast went to Comic-Con last year expecting a low-key launch for series one on BBC America they found a panel audience of 6,000 who already knew the show intimately (a US remake is in the pipeline). And it's still on BBC3, meaning that unlike Gavin and Stacey, and Torchwood, Being Human is not a dirty sellout.

2. It has a soon-to-be-stellar cast

Being Human's principal cast represent a new kind of Brat Pack in British drama. Russell Tovey (George the werewolf) played Budgie in Gavin and Stacey and was RTD's first choice for the Eleventh Doctor had the decision been his (and had he not already cast him as Midshipman Frame, last seen in Tennant's finale, making come-to-bed eyes at Captain Jack). Lenora Crichlow (Annie the ghost) first came in for stick, having inherited the role from the critically deified Andrea Riseborough in the pilot, but instantly brought the role a jittery sympathy all her own. Her first adult lead since breaking ground in Julie Burchill's teen-lesbian romp Sugar Rush, she too has done Doctor Who (as Cheen in Gridlock) and can be seen in BBC1's Material Girl next week. Aidan Turner (Mitchell the vampire) was plucked from RTE daytime soap The Clinic, but was rewarded for his work in making BH a success with the role of a gadabout Rosetti in the Beeb's Desperate Romantics. And Sinead Keenan (George's girlfriend Nina) this promoted to a regular for series two, still found time for two prime-time appearances over Christmas, as the alien Vinvocci Addams in (again) Doctor Who, and popping up next to Delia Smith on the Victoria Wood special – both times doing the "what-the-fuck-not-again" eyes that are fast becoming her trademark.

3. It's a brand new idea

As brilliant as True Blood, Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica have been, one was an adaptation, one a revival and the last something called a "reimagining". Our most beloved cult series all seem to borrow from the past. Being Human is freshly minted from a modern-day imagination – as was E4's recent Misfits – and with a new idea, anything can happen. And as Being Human has shown – it always, always does.

4. It's a proper British success story

The situations and the characters are truly British, meaning mundane and irresistible at the same time. This is a story about three people with afflictions they didn't choose, trying to fit in as normally as they can. That means old ladies and backstreet pubs and endless cups of tea and NHS hospital wards. Just with – you know – gallons of blood flying about and inter-species supernatural sex scenes every 20 minutes..

5. It's really, really scary

The scripts might be delightfully observed and emotionally brutal, with Toby Whithouse putting in a compelling audition to become one of the giants of British drama, but how lovely to have something on our screens that is properly, brutally gory – and with promises that this year it gets even more extreme.

Being Human is on BBC3, Sunday at 9.30pm. Want to find out what happens behind the scenes? Read about Daniel Martin's on-set visit in tomorrow's Guardian Guide.