The third instalment of Being Human’s fourth series slows down the pace and delivers a bit of a plain, back to basics episode, but it’s not without charm.

In the The Graveyard Shift, the Honolulu housemates tell Hal he needs to get off his backside and get job, so he begrudgingly ends up working in the café with Tom. Meanwhile ‘Vampire recorder’ Regus returns and warns Annie she should get baby Eve to safety because the other vampires are coming for her.

Seeing Hal struggling to adapt to a relatively normal way of life provides plenty of fun moments and The Odd Couple pairing of Hal and Tom is easily the highlight of the episode. The banter between the duo as they attempt to awkwardly bond and do “manly” things like chat up women shows them both to be hilariously out of their depth and stuck in old ways.

Via a flashback, Hal’s dark past is also touched on and you learn some of his history with Fergus, who is revealed to be an old ally. In the present, Fergus eventually catches up with his old buddy and tries to lure him back to his evil ways. It’s nice to see more of Hal’s backstory, as he’s now the most interesting character on the show, but this is slightly familiar territory having already been done with Mitchell and Herrick. The writers need to be careful they don’t just turn Hal into a clone.

There’s no sign at all of Cutler (Andrew Gower) this week, but the aforementioned Fergus gets plenty more screen time. Fergus is a decent enough villain and his ties to Hal bring up some interesting conflicts. Unfortunately, it looks like his character won’t be explored any further.

Mark Williams featured in the opener as the comic relief character Regus and he is given a much bigger role here, paired up with Annie. Williams seemed out of place before conflicting with the drama at hand. Given this episode is more comedic in tone though, he doesn’t feel quite so goofy. In fact one of the funniest scenes in the episode occurs when he gets more than he bargained for.

The other notable guest star is Laura Patch who plays Michaela, a “goth chick” who spends her days at the café spouting some cringeworthy poetry at Tom and Hal. She eventually becomes caught up in latter events. The character is incredibly annoying and Patch plays her too much like a caricature.

The third episode is a bit of a mixed bag and doesn’t quite stand up to the past couple of episodes. However, it does further some character relationships and set-up a couple of interesting developments towards the end.