Afterlife: Not Just a "Medium" Rip-Off

Those damn psychics are so hot right now! Afterlife, a British import currently being broadcast on BBC America (they're finishing up the first season Thursdays at 9), stars Lesley Sharp as Alison Mundy, a psychic who speaks to the dead. The show premiered in Britain in 2005, the same year Medium premiered in the US.

While both shows feature a psychic named Alison (okay, okay, it's "Allison" on Medium) haunted by ghosts seeking some sort of resolution, there are a few differences. First of all, Lesley Sharp doesn't look like Patricia Arquette. She actually looks like - dare I say it? - a real person! Crazy, I know. Alison Mundy doesn't have a convenient job that exposes her to new crimes to be solved every week, with understanding supervisors and an inhumanly patient husband. Instead, she's still struggling to find her place in the world, and constantly challenged by a skeptical psychologist who's writing a book about her.

The tone of the show is also somewhat darker, which may be due to a gloomier Bristol setting (as opposed to Medium's sunny Arizona location). It could also be due to the fact that they cast actors who look like real people, which tends to increase the "it could happen to me!" freak-out factor. But it's not really a scary show so much as a psychological drama, with layers of complexity which belie its X-Files-esque "skeptic/believer" premise.

Although sometimes the interactions between Alison and the psychologist (Robert) seem a bit forced, the show is generally really good, and makes me wonder what else I'm missing on BBC America. So what else am I missing on the Beeb, people? Feed my TV addiction--be an enabler!

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