Zombie fans get set for Dead Set
Thursday, 23 October 2008
Dead Set is a new five-part zombie horror series which sees Britain crumble as the dead return to life and attack the living.
The people they kill get up and kill – and it’s spreading like wildfire. Curiously, there are a few people left in Britain who aren’t worried about any of this – that’s because they’re the remaining contestants in Big Brother.
Cocooned in the safety of the Big Brother house, they’re blissfully unaware of the horrific events unfolding outside. Until an eviction night when all hell breaks loose...
Dead Set stars Jaime Winstone (Donkey Punch, Goldplated) as the production runner working on a fictional series of Big Brother.
Jaime’s character Kelly finds herself trying to fend off the walking dead alongside the remaining housemates, her Big Brother producer boss Patrick (Andy Nyman, Severance) and her boyfriend Riq (Riz Ahmed, Britz).
Over the ensuing days, in a cruel reflection of the game show they thought they were entering, the contestants fall victim, one by one, to the hungry masses outside. Staying alive requires teamwork – which is tricky when you’re a group specifically selected by TV producers to wind each other up.
Dead Set is written by Charlie Brooker, who is well known for his columns in The Guardian and his BBC4 series Charlie Brooker’s Screen Wipe. Charlie co-wrote the Channel 4 comedy series Nathan Barley with Chris Morris and was the creator of the hugely successful TV Go Home website.
Charlie comments: "Just as a shopping mall was the ideal setting for the original Dawn of the Dead back in 1978, so the Big Brother house seemed fitting for a TV zombie epic set in the 21st century.
"Dead Set isn’t an out-and-out comedy, but an unashamedly populist horror-thriller with blackly comic undertones. Think 24 with zombies. And housemates. And gore."
The cast playing housemates include Chizzy Akudolu (The Vagina Monologues), Warren Brown (Shameless, Hollyoaks, Life on Mars), Beth Cordingly (The Bill, Secret Diary of a Call Girl), Adam Deacon (Kidulthood, Adulthood), Kevin Eldon (Spaced, Brass Eye, Green Wing), Raj Ghatak (Bombay Dreams) and Kathleen McDermott (Wedding Belles).
Dead Set also features a range of cameo appearances including Davina McCall and several former Big Brother housemates.
Check out the Dead Set photo gallery.
Read our exclusive interview with Dead Set writer Charlie Brooker.
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Dead Set - Charlie Brooker interview
The first rule of writing is "write about what you love". If you love something, your passion for it will come through in the writing, and will be infectious. For Charlie Brooker, writing about what he loves is not always easy - he's a TV critic.
Thursday, 23 October 2008, 3.34pm - in Television
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