Catching Up With Russell Tovey

With the second season of his hit BBC series Being Human debuting stateside this fall and the third season already in production in Wales, out British actor Russell Tovey is getting used to playing a conflicted werewolf -- and shedding his clothes in just about every episode. Out caught up with him in San Diego, where he and the rest of the cast were taking in Comic-Con. Out: Is there anything youre excited about seeing at Comic-Con as a fan? I really want to see Scott Pilgrim, and I hear there are screenings but I dont know if were going to get a chance to go to them. It looks so brilliant. I think Michael Cera is awesome and Edgar Wright is obviously an amazing director. I didnt realize it was [based on] comic books. Thats what Im excited about, definitely. How has the reaction to Being Human been? Huge, brilliant. Really amazing. Everyones really behind it. Theyre really excited about it. [Costar] Sinead [Keenen] thought that nobody wouldve seen the second season, and I was like, I promise you, Sinead, that everybody here will have illegally downloaded it. Dont panic about it. And they have. Everybodys seen it. We dont mind that. Thats good for us. I mean, probably the people, the Man, is not excited about that. But its good for us. Were proillegal action. Have you started the third season? Yeah, weve finished the first block, three episodes are now complete. We start the second block on Monday and thats exciting, and its going very well. And its nice to do it in the summertime in Cardiff. I would imagine, considering how much nudity you have to do for the show. Its quite nice, yeah. But actually when youre cold, your body gets tighter and toned up anyway. You have to do fewer sit-ups right before the cameras roll. Yes, exactly. How daunting was the nudity when you started the show? Thinking back, quite daunting. I think you feel pressure as an actor when youve got to be on screen that you want to make sure you look -- I mean, George is not going to be a ripped Daniel Craig machine. Hes just an average guy. But an average guy on TV isnt the same as an average guy in real life. Exactly. Yeah, theres got to be a slight fantasy about it. I dont know that Ive achieved that yet, but... [laughs] its daunting. Because you know that theres 30 people in the crew and youre standing naked and everyones going to see it. And as much as people say they dont look, they do look. Everybody looks. So they all saw it. So you just get used to it, and thats it. I think its harder for women. I think Sinead now has to get naked a lot. I can use both hands and cover up my bits, where as shes got other bits. She needs three hands. So I have to ask: What do you think of Twilight? Ive not seen any of it. Not seen any of it, not read any of it. I want to, I will at some point catch up on it. I think its been great for us, and we came out in England before Twilight came out, so we were kind of already riding that wave. It doesnt feel like weve just tried to get in now in that craze and develop something and throw it out there. For us it feels like -- Twilight probably dont feel it at all -- but for us it feels like were part of that mix. You did some work on Doctor Who as well. How was that? I think Doctor Who is like Harry Potter for TV for British actors. Its kind of like if you do a cameo in that, its really exciting. I did the Christmas Day one with Kylie Minogue, which was awesome. And on the last one, [executive producer] Russell [T. Davies] asked me to come back and do this scene, and I didnt really realize -- it was one scene -- the magnitude of it. But as soon as it aired, I was just bombarded with Are you going to be in Torchwood, yada yada yada, which youre now going to ask me, arent you? Well, you just asked it so I dont have to. Yeah. I dont know the answer. I have nothing. I have no spoilers to expose or anything. I have no idea, but I doubt it. I think they have to cast a lot of Americans. We might pop in, I dont know. Im still here, you know. Dont forget me. Have you thought about doing TV in the U.S.? Of course. I think your American TV is what we all aim to do in England. Surprisingly, you come to these things and a lot of the fans are really negative about their TV, and they really embrace our British TV. Our production values are so much lower and we havent got as much money, and we sort of look to you on the other side of the pond and go, Thats how you do it. Thats why its successful. Thats why theyre winning all these awards. Being Human airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. EST on BBC America.