Hal Yorke

Damien Molony plays Hal Yorke.

After the departure of Aidan Turner (Mitchell), Russell Tovey (George) and Sinead Keenan (Nina), the producers of Being Human decided not to cancel the series but to renew it.[13] Damien Molony did a drama showcase in February 2011 when the casting director of Being Human made a visit. She offered Molony to read for the part of Hal. At the recall Molony first met Michael Socha. They both got along and three days later Molony got a call from his agent and was told that he got the part. Molony moved to Cardiff the following week and stayed there for the next six months to do costume fittings, rehearsals and the filming of Being Human.[14][15] In October 2011 it was announced to the public that Damien Moloney was cast as the vampire Hal.[16] Before the new series was shown on television, a short online prequel with Hal was released in early January 2012. The prequel introduced the character to the Being Human fans and showed a bit of his background story.[17] For Molony playing Hal was his first TV role. He had to learn how to work in front of the camera and was supported by the crew and his co-stars. Every evening he practised playing the vampire in his apartment. At first, he felt a big pressure, replacing former actor Aidan Turner and his character Mitchell, but then he realised, that Hal was completely different to Mitchell and had another background story. He said that it was nice to have been given the chance to play a completely different character.[14] Before playing the role of Hal Damien Molony has researched on the Russian and Eastern European history and tried to find out where Hal might have been.[18] For the prequel he wanted to find more information about Orsha, because Hal has been turned into a vampire during the Battle of Orsha.[19] Molony thought that the bloodlust of vampires is similar to addicts.[20] To understand Hal's bloodlust Molony did a lot of research on drug addicts and alcoholics and rehab and falling off the wagon, which helped him to get into Hal's world.[3] Furthermore, Molony started to watch as much classic vampire films as he could. Films within the Bram Stoker, Nosferatu era helped him to play the vampire Hal, who doesn’t really know how to live a modern life.[21]

Within the series narrative, Hal is an OCD-afflicted blood-abstaining vampire.[9] The producers mentioned that Hal would be very different from Being Humans previous lead vampire Mitchell.[16] Damien Molony described his character Hal as "Very, very posh. Very upper class. A stiff upper-lipped Brit".[22] According to Molony Hal's biggest challenge is blood and trying to keep away from blood. Hal is a very dangerous character who was, in his evil time, a legendary figure amongst the vampires. It is very difficult for Hal to have a relationship with a woman, as sex and bloodlust are linked. Molony thinks that during his dry 50 years Hal has been avoiding any kind of intimacy. In the series he has to face all these temptations, because he suddenly finds himself within the modern world.[14] According to Molony, Hal can be quite calm, quite contained and live a very basic life for several decades, but then he suddenly turn into his former self and be aggressive, rape, torture and kill everything he sees. Similar to Jekyll & Hyde, but within a single blink of his black, vampire eyes.[3] Lenora Crichlow mentioned that Damien Molony brought "a whole different intensity to the vampire". She said that Hal is intelligent and wise similar to Mitchell, but in a very different way. She added that Hal's wisdom comes from managing his bloodlust and that his intensity comes from his discipline.[14] Loma Jowett compares Hal to Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Similar to Angel/Angelus Hal has a split personality "with a bad side that eventually comes forward however hard Hal tries to repress him"[23]

After the broadcast of Hal's prequel Keith Watson from Metro said that Being Human has "promising signs of fresh life" and that the "chief among them is Damien Molony's vampire Hal".[24] When the first episode of series four was released on television the reactions to the new leads and the new series were already very positive.[25] According to Mark Oakley from Den of Geek Damien Molony "delivers every line with a gravitas that lights up any scene he’s part of." He adds that it was a pleasure to listen to his speeches.[26] Mandy from The Media Addict enjoyed getting to know Hal. She loves Hal’s whole stiff and proper old English gentleman act and adds that she adores Damien Molony as Hal and thinks he is gorgeous.[27] Ian Berriman from GamesRadar thinks that Hal falling off the wagon in the end of series five is horrible to see and Damien Molony’s performance is "perfection itself".[28] Malcolm Stewart from the Cultbox believes that Hal's and Tom's double act is one of the highlights of the show.[29] Morgan Jeffrey from Digital Spy adds that the characters are fantastic individually, but are unbeatable when they are together. He mentioned that television critics as well as Being Human fans, were sceptical that anyone could fill the "charisma void left by Aidan Turner, but Molony slotted in seamlessly".[30] According to Aubry D'Arminio from Entertainment Weekly Hal has his own charms. He has sensitivity to Annie’s pain, is loyal to Leo and has a very pretty face.[31] Mark Oakley from Den of Geek says that he had loved watching Hal evolve as the series had evolved with him.[32] George Ivanoff thinks that Hal is "a much more interesting and complex vampire than Mitchell".[33]

In February 2012 Damien Molony was featured along with Michael Socha on Glamour's TV's Hottest New Stars list, which contained eight new stars. Hal was described as sexy.[34]

• List of fictional vampires

• Hal on the BBC Being Human website
• Hal on the BBC America website
• Hal on IMDb