Nina Pickering Season 1

Nina Pickering (Sinead Keenan) is a senior staff nurse at the hospital in which Mitchell and George work, with a fiery and strong manner that can be intimidating. She initially views George as a bumbling, arrogant fool, but falls for him later after seeing his more caring side with the patients. When they start going out, Nina reveals burn scarring over a large portion of her stomach. While Nina and George eventually fall in love, George struggles with having another person in his life he can potentially hurt and tries to distance himself several times. However, their fates become entwined permanently in the series 1 finale, when George inadvertently scratches Nina during a transformation, passing the werewolf curse onto her as well.

John Mitchell Season 1

John Mitchell (Aidan Turner),is a 117-year-old vampire (born on 29 July 1893)[8] with the appearance of a young man in his twenties. He has chosen to give up drinking blood and preying on humans, attempting instead (insofar as it is possible) to become human again. Like other vampires, Mitchell has enhanced strength and sense of smell, and his eyes turn completely dark when he has blood lust or when he wills it; though it appears that he is slightly weaker when he abstains from drinking blood, he can survive without it. His image can't be captured on film and he has no reflection in mirrors. Although he can survive daylight, his eyes are overly-sensitive to natural light, prompting him often to wear sunglasses outside in the daytime. He often wears dark clothing, rings and fingerless gloves. Publicly quiet and calm, he works as a hospital cleaner ( a deliberate choice, as it's a low-status, low profile job which enables him to live quietly with the minimum of commitments or chances of exposure). Mitchell is almost always referred to by his surname by his friends.

Born in 1893 and Irish by birth, Mitchell fought as a young soldier in World War I, when he was originally recruited as a vampire by William Herrick. He encountered Herrick after a battle, stumbled upon him and several other vampires who were picking through piles of bodies for anyone living to feed on. Mitchell agreed to feed Herrick and become a vampire in exchange for Herrick leaving the rest of his men alone. He rejoined his regiment, hoping that no one had realised that he's changed, but became so hungry that he steals poison from the medical supplies, kills one of his friends and drains his blood before deserting the army and running away. At some later point he rejoined Herrick and the vampire community, accepting his new vampire nature.

In his early years as a vampire (and before his conscience was reawakened), Mitchell was quite a hero within the vampire community, who still circulate stories of his exploits amongst themselves. These seem to be a cause of great guilt for Mitchell who has asked Herrick to stop the retelling of the stories as he would prefer to be forgotten.[9] At several points, he has faced a conflict of emotions as he debates whether to 'convert' people dying around him to prevent their deaths. In the 1960s, Herrick gave Mitchell the opportunity to kill a young girl that they had lured into their car. Mitchell showed guilt and anger at the easiness of the kill and let her go. He told Herrick that she had escaped, prompting the suspicious Herrick to say that he would keep a closer eye on Mitchell.[6] Mitchell has attempted several times to abstain from drinking blood (one attempt was a New Year resolution for 2000, with the aid of a fellow vampire called Carl). At this time, Mitchell showed an extreme addiction to blood, as well as heightened aggression, lack of control and extreme panic due to blood withdrawal.

Mitchell's reluctant rescue of the werewolf George from a squad of fellow vampires, and the subsequent development of their friendship, further awakened his conscience, and he eventually opted to drift away from the vampire group in Bristol and to join George in living quietly. After 'converting' Lauren into a vampire (as covered in both the pilot episode and Series One Episode 1), Mitchell, infuriated at himself, decided to fully give up the blood and to attempt "being human" once more. He continues to take care of George, particularly around the full moon when George transforms.

George Sands Season 1

George Sands Junior (Russell Tovey),is a young werewolf in his mid-twenties, and Mitchell's best friend. He also shared a close, sibling-like friendship with Annie. Less socially adept than Mitchell, he is considerably more intellectual, possessing an IQ of 156 and being able to speak French, German, Italian, Spanish and Croatian. George grew up in an average suburban household with what he considered to be a very straightforward family, including a father who possessed none of the handicaps or problems such as alcoholism or gambling which George saw in other peoples' fathers. (He would reflect later on that at the time he had never realised how important 'boring' could be.) George is Jewish and wears a Star of David pendant.[5] The pendant is able to hold back one or two vampires, but in greater numbers it becomes less effective; Mitchell is apparently immune to it due to the personal connection between him and George. It was mentioned in the pilot, however, that George is a lapsed Jew as he believes the faith frowns upon someone turning into a werewolf.

George became a werewolf while on holiday in Scotland. He was about to go out for a walk when an American tourist, not knowing his way around, invited himself along after George reluctantly let him. They both got lost as night fell and were attacked by a werewolf – later revealed to be a man named Tully, who later came looking for him in search of companionship – who killed the tourist and scratched George, who survived when the rescue services found him.[6] After becoming a werewolf, George left his family, his job and his fiancée, afraid of hurting them. He works alongside Mitchell as a porter in the local hospital, unable to hold down a more permanent job due to his monthly transformations, which are extremely painful.

George resents being a werewolf to the extent that he is essentially in denial about his condition, often referring to it as 'that thing that happens to me once a month'. For the whole of Series 1, he attempted to view his wolf side as an entirely different entity – when referring to his wolf self, he never used 'I' or 'me', only an impersonal 'it'; His denial ends after the last episode of the first season, when he takes responsibility for his actions as a wolf after accidentally scratching Nina during a transformation whilst trying to protect her from the vampire Herrick.

Annie Sawyer Season 1

Anna Clare Sawyer (Lenora Crichlow), known commonly as "Annie", is a ghost, appearing as she did at the time of her death in her early twenties. Up until her death, she had been living with her fiancé Owen (whom she later revealed had been her third serious relationship, her previous two having ended when her first boyfriend posted naked pictures of her on the Internet and when her second boyfriend drunkenly invited her mother to form a threesome). Following her death, she haunted the house which she and Owen had lived in while she was alive, and which Owen was now running as landlord (eventually renting it out to George and Mitchell).

Annie's ability to be seen and heard by normal people depends on her state of mind, although supernatural creatures can always see her. Annie appears in the clothes she was wearing when she died, which change subtly depending on her mood.[3] She is capable of teleporting herself short distances. For promotional purposes, Annie's condition as a ghost is highlighted in the show's publicity photos with the addition of a glowing aura and a degree of transparency: as seen in the show itself, she has no such additions, appearing just as corporeal as the other characters around her.) When first introduced, Annie was a notably insecure ghost, unwilling to leave the house. Overjoyed to be living with people who could actually see her, she tended to mother Mitchell and George (infuriating George by continually making tea). The reason for her remaining as a ghost was initially unclear, and she spent a lot of her time alternating between finding occupations for her time and emotions or explanations for any "unfinished business" which might be causing her to stay.

Initially, the cause of Annie's death was supposedly that she "fell awkwardly" down the stairs. It was later revealed that she had been blocking out her memories of the fact that Owen had been abusive towards her, and that he himself had killed her after finding thong underwear in her possession. Confronting her and accusing her of infidelity, as an excuse for tormenting her, he had pushed her down the stairs to her death and had flushed the thong down the toilet. (It would stick in the plumbing, eventually causing the rattling in the pipes which led to Annie's regaining of her memories). When Annie discovers her cause of death, she becomes a poltergeist, which allows her to move objects without touching them and turn machines on. At first, it seems that she can't control these newly found abilities, which only activate in times of extreme emotional distress (along with her teleportation).

In Series 1 Episode 5, the Door to Death appears for Annie once she has resolved the issue that was keeping her on earth — her murder. But before she can pass through the Door, Mitchell is stabbed, and she decides to stay to help him. Because of this, she missed her chance to leave and has to stay on earth in her undead state. She can now hear dead people, teleport further distances, and has greater powers of telekinesis, which she describes as "a whole new skill set."