ThisisBigBrother.com - UK TV Forums - Dead Set (BB Zombie Drama)

PRESS RELEASE

Dead Set is a new five-part zombie horror series set in a fictional Big Brother house and is written by acclaimed writer Charlie Brooker.

The drama is set in a Britain where the dead are returning to life and attacking 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.

Dead Set (1 x 60 min, 4 x 30 min) is produced by Zeppotron, an Endemol company.

www.E4.com/deadset

Press contacts: Loretta de Souza, Channel 4, 020 7306 8179 ldesouza@channel4.co.uk
Rae Langford, Endemol UK, 020 8222 4176, rae.langford@endemoluk.com
Picture contact: Lis Clucas, Channel 4, 020 7306 8410, lclucas@channel4.co.uk

CAST

Kelly - Jaime Winstone

Patrick - Andy Nyman

Riq - Riz Ahmed

Angel - Chizzy Akudolu

Alex - Liz May Brice

Marky - Warren Brown

Claire - Shelley Conn

Veronica - Beth Cordingly

Space - Adam Deacon

Joplin - Kevin Eldon

Grayson - Raj Ghatak

Pippa - Kathleen McDermott

Davina McCall as Herself

PRODUCTION TEAM

Writer/ Executive Producer - Charlie Brooker

Zeppotron Managing Director/ Executive Producer - Annabel Jones

Director - Yann Demange

Head of E4 - Angela Jain

Commissioning Editor - Shane Allen

Production Company - Zeppotron

Press Contacts:
Loretta de Souza
020 7306 8179
ldesouza@channel4.co.uk

Rae Langford
020 8222 4176
Rae.langford@endemoluk.com

Picture Publicist Lis Clucas
020 7306 8410
lclucas@channel4.co.uk

www.E4.com/deadset

EPISODE INFORMATION

Episode 1 – Outbreak
It’s a typical Friday night eviction on Big Brother. Except it’s not a typical evening; there are reports of disturbances and riots all over the country. BB Producer Patrick has just heard that the live show may be bumped for breaking news on the riots.

Runner Kelly meanwhile, alongside her usual frantic eviction night tasks, is also juggling having to avoid calls from her long-term boyfriend Riq, who keeps ringing to find out exactly why she didn’t come home last night. As tearful Scot Pippa is evicted from the house and interviewed by Davina, all hell is breaking loose outside. There’s a complete massacre of the BB audience as zombies start to attack.

Can Patrick and Kelly get to safety? And just what has happened to Davina?

Episode 2 – Can the housemates keep Angel alive?
After an encounter with a zombie, Riq meets lone armed survivor Alex. The pair team up and escape the zombies by hiding in an abandoned country house.

BB Producer Patrick begins to realise that he is stuck in the green room with newly evicted Pippa and no communication to the outside world, no food and no way out – zombie Davina is patrolling the corridor outside.

Grayson tries to nurse Angel whose health is rapidly deteriorating. Having found safety inside the BB house, Kelly, along with Marky and Space, now has to venture outside again. Armed with knives, the three speed off to the supermarket in the hope of getting the medication that could save Angel’s life.

Episode 3 – Can Kelly, Marky and Space survive outside the BB house?
At the country house Riq turns on the E4 live feed to try and determine what has happened at the BB studio.

Meanwhile in the greenhouse Grayson tries to comfort Angel. When she stops breathing Grayson realises he needs to kill her in case she turns into a zombie. But can he bring himself to do it?

On the live feed at the country house Riq sees the housemates re-entering the BB house and is relieved to see Kelly on screen. She is alive.

Episode 4 – The Rescue of Patrick
Riq decides he must leave the safety of the country house in order to get to Kelly. But at what cost to himself and Alex?

The rest of the housemates are having dinner when suddenly a BB voice comes over the loud speaker. The housemates think they are being rescued but Kelly recognises Patrick’s voice.

Patrick is hatching an escape plan. Kelly tries to reason with him – the entire compound is surrounded by zombies. There’s no way out. They’re trapped.

As Riq finally makes his way to the BB compound, Marky, who has been keeping watch on the roof, thinks he has spotted another stray zombie and is about to shoot…

Episode 5 – The Big Brother Finale
Riq and Kelly are reunited. Kelly thinks that Riq has arrived to take her away and save her. However he only brings dire warnings about the state of the world outside.

Patrick is pacing the garden, muttering to himself; half-demented. Ignoring Riq’s tales of the outside world he tries to persuade the housemates to leave with him. Riq urges them to stay.

Patrick pleads for his life as Veronica tries to persuade the housemates they need to kill him in order to protect and save themselves. Patrick takes Kelly hostage. It turns into chaos as Riq fights to save his girlfriend. But Kelly won’t give up the fight as the threat of the zombies comes ever nearer….

CHARACTER AND CAST BIOGRAPHIES

KELLY
A 23-year-old female runner on the Big Brother production team, Kelly’s got a lot on her mind. There’s her job for one thing: it doesn’t pay well, and consists of non-stop stress – but she loves it. It’s showbiz. Then there’s her colleague, Danny. They’ve been spending long hours together during the production and last night things got a little intimate and they slept together. Trouble is, Kelly’s had a boyfriend for the last four years – and he wants to know where she was last night. Little does she realise life as she knows it is about to change forever.

Jaime Winstone (Kelly)
Jaime Winstone is quickly becoming one of the UK’s hottest and finest actresses after appearing in a raft of gritty film and television productions. She recently played Kim in the thriller Donkey Punch and is best known for her roles in Kidulthood and Bullet Boy. Jaime played Lauren in the Channel 4 drama series Goldplated and also appeared in BBC Three’s pilot Phoo Action which is about to go into series.

Jaime is also set to star in the forthcoming film Boogie Woogie – alongside Heather Graham and Gillian Anderson. The comedy film is set in the contemporary London art world.

Jaime has also recently modelled for Vivienne Westwood.

PATRICK
Patrick is the producer of Big Brother. He lives and breathes Big Brother. He's all about the work - you’re only ever as good as last night’s show.

In his late thirties, Patrick has been in television since he left university and has had a hand in nearly all reality shows made in the UK. His next show is due to be Celebrity Kennels featuring Grace Jones.

Patrick is very ambitious and sees himself as a controller of one of the major channels in the next few years. He never lets anyone come in the way of getting what he wants.

Andy Nyman (Patrick)
From headlining in Brit horror comedy flick Severance and Frank Oz’s Hollywood hit Death at a Funeral, to directing Derren Brown, actor, magician and Renaissance man Andy Nyman continues his steady rise to prominence.
Forthcoming productions include: Rian Johnson’s (Brick) eagerly anticipated The Brothers Bloom (opposite Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo) and the action thriller The Tournament (alongside Ving Rhames and Robert Carlyle).

Andy is also a world-renowned magician and the co-creator and co-writer of the hugely popular Derren Brown television and stage shows. Andy was nominated for a BAFTA for writing Derren Brown: The Heist and Andy and Derren were awarded the 2005 Olivier Award for Best Entertainment for Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Andy’s theatre credits as an actor include the role of legendary Hollywood movie producer David O. Selznick in Ron Hutchinson’s Moonlight & Magnolias (Tricycle Theatre), Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Call in the Night and The Merchant of Venice all for West Yorkshire Playhouse, Saturday, Sunday and Monday for Chichester Festival Theatre, Lust for the Theatre Royal Haymarket and A Slice of Saturday Night for the Arts Theatre.

Andy will be returning to TV screens this Christmas, starring in the BBC drama Crooked House, written by Mark Gatiss.

RIQ
Riq is a 23-year-old London boy with a cynical outlook and a dry wit. Since leaving university he’s had a succession of unchallenging jobs that he’s managed to get sacked from. Currently working as a delivery van driver for a supermarket, Riq spends his days dreaming of working as a DJ. Even though he’s been with Kelly for four years he’s aware that that his and Kelly’s lives are becoming increasingly different.

Riz Ahmed (Riq)
Riz Ahmed is one of the most exciting actors and musicians of his generation. As well as his appearance in Dead Set he features in ITV's Wired, to be broadcast this October. He is also the new face in an all star cast that includes Jude Law and Judi Dench in Sally Potter's eagerly anticipated cinema release in January, and plays the lead role opposite Jason Flemyng and Daniel Mays in the new British indie feature Shifty, which premieres at this year’s London Film Festival and will be on general release next spring.

Riz's previous screen appearances include the BAFTA winning Britz and the multi-award-winning Road to Guantanamo, both hotly debated and critically acclaimed.

As a musician under the name 'Riz MC' he has just signed a record deal, and will build on strong Radio 1 support with the release of his single Radar/People Like People, which will be released in November, and is currently winning rave reviews. His debut single Post 9/11 Blues was banned, and won global press coverage and a cult internet following. He has just performed with Massive Attack, holds an artistic residency at the Southbank Centre, and will perform with Dizzee Rascal in October at the Warehouse Project in Manchester.

ALEX
Alex is a 34-year-old single woman from south London. She runs a baby clothes boutique in Clapham Junction, an area of London smugly referred to as Nappy Valley. Over-qualified for the job and with a string of failed relationships behind her, Alex is dissatisfied with her lot.

Naturally aloof and generally distrusting, Alex is probably the best equipped person to deal with the current outbreak.

Liz May Brice (Alex)
Liz May Brice has played a host of high-profile characters in film and television and on stage. The talented actress is currently filming a leading role in the third series of Dr Who spin-off Torchwood.

Liz is well known for her character Pat Kerrigan - a convicted murderer on ITV’s cult series Bad Girls. She has appeared in some of the UK’s best loved series including Peep Show, Hustle and The Bill.

Liz has featured in the horror films Resident Evil and AVP: Alien vs Predator.

Her theatre credits include Crows at the National Theatre, Beauty and the Beast and Guys and Dolls at the Young Vic, and The Cherry Orchard at the Salisbury.

CLAIRE
Claire is an experienced TV producer who was worked with Patrick on Big Brother for many years. Unlike Patrick, she is popular amongst her team and sees herself as a friendly buffer between Patrick and the rest of the production.

Claire has become a bit of a mentor figure to Kelly.

Shelley Conn (Claire)
Shelley Conn is well known for her character in the drama Mistresses, of which she is currently filming a second series. Shelley has acted in Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and played the lead role in Nina’s Heavenly Delights.

Her theatre credits include several productions at the Royal Shakespeare Company including All’s Well That Ends Well, The Island Princess and The Roman Actor. Shelley also played the role of Zara in the Royal Court’s Muslim Voices.

MARKY
An unapologetic lad, prone to picking his nose, swilling lager, and breaking wind for comic effect, Marky is the kind of housemate you either love or hate. He considers himself a born comedian, although most of his humour consists of verbal bullying and mindless pranks. A hothead and a loudmouth, he’s already divided the housemates – and, much to his delight, managed to bed wannabe glamour girl Veronica.

Warren Brown (Marky)
Warren Brown came to acting after a successful career as a two times World Champion Thai boxer. His first break in acting came when he was cast as one of the Maguire brothers in Channel 4's Shameless. His performance as Andy Holt in Hollyoaks earned him three nominations at the 2006 British Soap Awards. Warren plays regular character Alex in the popular comedy series Grownups for BBC Three. He has also featured in Life on Mars, Dead Clever and Mobile. He is currently filming a leading role in Occupation for the BBC and a further series of Grownups.

VERONICA
Twenty-eight-year-old suburban girl Veronica thought Big Brother would help her realise her dream of becoming a presenter. Or a Hollyoaks actress. Or a page three model. Anything – so long as she’s famous. Not averse to using sex to get what she wants (even if it means sleeping with Marky), Veronica has extreme difficulty coming to terms with the reality of the new situation. Having to wave goodbye to a chance of fame almost scares her more than the living dead themselves.

Beth Cordingly (Veronica)
Beth Cordingly's TV breakthrough was as tearaway Sara Warrington in Family Affairs for five. She left to play the lead role in Noel Coward's Semi-Monde in the West End and then returned to television, spending two successful years in The Bill as popular character PC Kerry Young before escaping the beat for a leading role in Funland. Beth then sharpened her comic skills on a national tour of Bedroom Farce before returning to the screen recently, featuring in high profile dramas such as New Tricks, Secret Diary of a Call Girl and Trial and Retribution.

SPACE
Twenty-four-year-old Space is from south London. Smart, but with a fiery temper, Space (the name was given to him in school because he was “always off in his own universe”) is a loner at heart, who mistrusts everyone but himself. He’s observant but the other housemates consider him very insular. He has sympathy for Pippa, who he feels is being bullied by some of the other housemates. Now he’ll have to learn to integrate if he’s going to survive.

Adam Deacon (Space)
Hailing from Hackney, north east London, Adam Deacon rose to fame after starring in the 2006 film Kidulthood. He also appeared in the film’s sequel Adulthood, which was released earlier this year.

Adam’s television credits include appearances in Ali G Indahouse, Sugar Rush and Love Soup, as well as several episodes of Casualty and The Bill. He also co-starred in West 10 LDN, crime thriller Sugarhouse and Channel 4’s Dubplate Drama.

PIPPA
Space’s bosom buddy in the house, 26-year-old Pippa has divided the house and the nation – she’s been up for eviction every week for the past three weeks. Her naivety and ignorance are considered “an act for the cameras” by most of the housemates and her accent is beginning to grate on them all. She’s prone to bursting into tears at the drop of a hat, and only Space seems able to tolerate her human frailties.

Kathleen McDermott (Pippa)
For Kathleen McDermott's breakout debut in the feature film Morvern Callar, she won four best actress awards including a BAFTA and the Bowmore Scottish Screen award.

On TV, Kathleen is probably best known for her role as Shaz in Irvine Welsh’s feature-length Channel 4 television drama, Wedding Belles. She has also appeared in Casualty and Taggart.

Kathleen’s other film roles include Nina’s Heavenly Delights, Squaddie and Baldy McBane. She won Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival in 2005 for her role in Milk and the film won the Golden Bear awards at the festival.

JOPLIN
Forty-three-year-old Joplin was the viewers’ most hated housemate – back when the viewers were still alive. The reason they disliked him? He’s a pompous bore. Every incident in the house is subjected to some earnest diatribe. All this against a background of hypocrisy – the housemates are aware of him salaciously eyeing all the women up at every opportunity. Particularly Veronica. Unbeknown to him, his ogling has earnt him the nickname Gollum, which he unfortunately passes more than a striking resemblance to.

Probably the most intelligent housemate, he becomes more ostracised as he tries to discuss with the other housemates the implications of the new world.

Kevin Eldon (Joplin)
Stand-up comic and actor Kevin Eldon has appeared in several of the most critically acclaimed British comedy shows including Spaced, Brass Eye, Black Books, Green Wing, I’m Alan Partridge and Big Train. He has recently finished filming a second series of the BBC Two comedy Hyperdrive.

His film credits include: Faintheart, Hot Fuzz and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Recent television credits include Skins, Robin Hood, Saxondale and Funland.

GRAYSON
Camp, bitchy, and the Big Brother audience’s favourite housemate, 27-year-old Grayson is a performer at heart. Notorious in north London for his nightclub drag act blending torch songs and outrageous comedy, Grayson has a sharp tongue and an even sharper sense of style. Faced with a genuine life-threatening crisis, how will this self-styled Queen of Melodrama react? Inside the house, Marky enjoys making his life hell on a daily basis.

Raj Ghatak (Grayson)
Raj is a talented young actor whose credits boast a wide variety of film, television and theatre work. He received nominations for Best Actor (2004) and Best Supporting Performance in a Musical (2003) for his role in the Apollo Theatre’s musical Bombay Dreams. Other recent theatre roles include Free Outgoing for the Royal Court Theatre.

Raj has appeared in a wide variety of films including Karma Magnet, Dangerous Parking and Starter for 10. His television credits include Sinchronicity, All about Me and Hard Cash.

ANGEL
Angel is a 26-year-old from east London who describes herself as “straight-talking and someone who tells it as it is”. She’s got no time for Pippa and her childish tears or Veronica and the way she sells herself. She’s not as articulate as Grayson but she’s happy to be his partner-in-crime – gossiping, bitching and cackling about everyone else.

Chizzy Akudolu (Angel)
Chizzy Akudolu has appeared in several television series including Green Wing, 15 Storeys High, EastEnders and Roman's Empire. Chizzy can be seen as a regular in the CBBC sketch show Stupid! as well as playing Miss Kanouti in The Complete Guide to Parenting. She has toured the UK with The Vagina Monologues and has recently completed two feature films, In the Loop and Skellig.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Charlie Brooker (Writer and Executive Producer)
Charlie Brooker has worked as a writer, journalist, cartoonist and television and radio presenter. He was the creator of the hugely successful website TV Go Home. His television writing credits include the Brass Eye Special and Nathan Barley, which he co-wrote with Chris Morris.
Charlie Brooker is also well known for his weekly columns in The Guardian and his BBC Four RTS award-nominated series Charlie Brooker’s Screen Wipe, which he writes and presents.

Annabel Jones (Executive Producer)
Annabel Jones is Managing Director of Zeppotron, the production company behind 8 Out of 10 Cats and Would I Lie to You?
She works closely with Charlie Brooker, exec producing his RTS award-nominated series Charlie Brooker’s Screen Wipe for BBC Four.
Yann Demange (Director)
Yann Demange studied at the London College of Printing where his graduation film Joe was accepted by the British Council and toured festivals internationally. He then studied Fiction Direction MA at the National Film and Television School.
His recent television credits include Secret Diary of a Call Girl starring Billie Piper for ITV2.

PRODUCTION COMPANY

Zeppotron is part of Endemol UK and is a rapidly growing comedy producer with an increasing number of prime-time hits.
The company is behind the award-winning series 8 Out of 10 Cats, the prime-time comedy panel show hosted by Jimmy Carr – now in its seventh series for Channel 4. 8 Out of 10 Cats has also won international awards including the C21 Frappe format award and the BANFF World Television award for comedy.
Other recent television credits include Would I Lie to You? (BBC One), the comedy panel show hosted by Angus Deayton and featuring David Mitchell and Lee Mack, and Charlie Brooker’s Screen Wipe (BBC Four), the irreverent magazine show that takes a caustic look at television. Zeppotron also co-produced Nathan Barley (C4) with TalkbackThames.

INTERVIEW WITH WRITER/ EXECUTIVE PRODUCER CHARLIE BROOKER

The following feature is available free for reproduction in full or in part.

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, which, by definition, means that sometimes he has to write about things he does not love - indeed, about things he absolutely loathes. And, as readers of his hugely popular Screen Burn column will testify, Charlie Brooker often loathes some of the programmes he reviews.

But now the poacher has turned gamekeeper (or should that be the other way around?) as the critic has written a new TV series, Dead Set, which he describes as a zombie romp set in the Big Brother house. And here, Brooker is definitely writing about what he loves, because he is absolutely infatuated with zombies. If there's a shambling member of the undead in it, he's seen it, probably has the box set, and may well know it by heart.

Here, Brooker talks about why zombies do it for him, how men in berets are welcome to watch the series, and the problems associated with having bug-eyes.

Dead Set – can you briefly sum up what it's about?
I guess it's a fairly standard nightmare scenario - Britain is overwhelmed by a kind of zombie apocalypse which wipes out pretty much everyone in the country, from hot dog sellers through to the people who pay the wages of hot dog sellers. Just about the only people who aren't aware of it, initially at least, are a bunch of contestants in a fictional series of Big Brother. It's inspired by Dawn of the Dead, which is set in a shopping mall. I guess you'd say it's a horror-thriller with satirical, darkly comic undertones. But mainly it's a horror-thriller.

Are you a fan of the real Big Brother?
I'm ambivalent, really. I've written about it a lot, and made hay slating various contestants. I've got a slightly odd relationship with all reality TV, in that I watch a lot of it and get drawn into it, and yet at the same time you're slightly appalled. It's a similar thing to playing video games - you get drawn in and enjoy yourself, and then when it's over, you feel like you've wasted a lot of time. You get people who define themselves by how much they hate shows like Big Brother. They'll practically tune in and then sit with their back turned to the set just to underline how much they hate it. I'm not one of those, and nor am I one of the people who turn up waving a placard on eviction night. I'm somewhere in the middle. I suppose most TV is a distraction from something or another. That's kind of a theme in the show, we're kind of distracted by a lot of entertainment in this day and age, and obviously in vaguely making that point, what I've really done is create a zombie-romp that will further distract people from whatever might be more important in their lives. I've basically made the problem worse.

In choosing the Big Brother setting, are you satirising reality TV, or is it just about the fact that it's quite a good setting for a horror series?
It's kind of in-between. In the original Dawn of the Dead, which was sort of a model for this, the setting has obviously got satirical undertones. I would say the same about this. But while you could spend your time watching it thinking ”Mmmmm, yes, a satirical point”, most of the time you're going to be thinking ”Help! Here come the zombies!“ It's kind of a scary romp, first and foremost. It's not a chin-stroking exercise.

So it's not just to be watched by men in berets?
No, although they're more than welcome to tune in, provided they take their ****ing berets off. In a way, on one level, the fact that it's set in the Big Brother House is kind of irrelevant, although it also sort of isn't. I can't really be clearer than that! I've seen some people speculating about it online, and you can see why they think what they do. "Right, I get it, there's going to be zombies, yeah? That carry on watching the show, yeah? Because people who watch reality TV shows are zombies!“ Or they say “I see what's going to happen. Nobody will notice that the contestants have been replaced by zombies, yeah? Because reality TV contestants are like zombies!“ But neither of those things will happen in the show. It's much more about unrelenting peril. It's kind of inspired by shows like 24, so hopefully people will be too busy and too involved to sit there and stroke their chins.

What did you do in the name of research for this? Did you watch a lot of Big Brother, or go behind the scenes, or to eviction nights?
I watched a lot of zombie films. I watch a lot of zombie films anyway, which is where the original idea came from. I wanted to make a zombie TV series before the Big Brother angle came along. I'd decided I wanted to do a series that was a bit like 24, but set during a zombie apocalypse. Then, a little while after having that thought, I was watching Big Brother when it occurred to me that that was the perfect setting.

Were you concerned with making it a realistic version of Big Brother?
Yes. And we wanted the backstage stuff to be as accurate as possible in some respects. So we went along to an eviction a long while ago now - this shows how long ago the idea began. I went along to George Galloway's eviction. I snuck along, and got to go behind the scenes. I went in the camera run, which was very instructive. It's very creepy there - it's like being in an aquarium. It's a very quiet, dark environment, and you're looking through the glass at these creatures that aren't really aware of your existence. And sometimes these people would stare directly at you, and a little frisson would go through you, and then you'd realise that they were looking at their own reflection in the mirror - which obviously, being celebrities, they did a lot. I realised that the camera run was a really creepy place, so you start to think how scary it would be if there was something in the camera run, and you didn't know it was there. So it could see you, but you couldn't see it.

You've talked of your love of zombie films. The Living Dead films, and more recently 28 Days Later and I Am Legend, have all been hits. What is it about zombie films that capture the imagination?
I really don't know. I've thought about this, because I'll watch anything with a zombie in it. But I just don't know. What I like about zombies is that they are thick. I don't like watching horror films about, say, a serial killer, where the villain is a brilliant intellectual, and could also double as the controller of Radio 3. The serial killer is always one step ahead of the police, and taunting them. Whereas most serial killers, in reality, are so mentally deranged that they wouldn't be like that. And I don't really relate to vampires or ghosts. I don't find them particularly frightening.

But zombies are different?
Yeah. In the original Romero movies, zombies were this big dumb mass of stupidity. The protagonists always get complacent, because these things are shambling around quite slowly and can't keep up with them. And then by sheer weight of numbers they get overwhelmed. So if you live in a city, you're surrounded by people constantly. If you imagine something suddenly afflicted them all, and they were all coming after you, then you're in big trouble. It's a fear of an anonymous mass coming after you. Except, of course, modern day zombies have evolved. They learnt to run in about 2002. Which is probably good, it gives the genre a new lease of life. We considered having your old-fashioned, stumbling zombies in this, but it felt more in-keeping with a fast-paced TV thing to have running zombies. There's something visceral about having a bunch of zombies running at you. And it means you don't need a huge mass of zombies for effect to start with, and then when you do see a huge mass of them, it's particularly horrifying.

Horror in general is such a big market, now more than ever. Why do people like being scared?
I don't know. There's the thought that, in days gone by, when we were all living in caves and chasing wild boar across the plains or whatever the hell we did when we were cavemen, you were generally in fear for your life once on any given day. So I guess it tickles that, it's an adrenaline rush. It's a way of being scared in a fun, safe environment. It's the equivalent of a rollercoaster, it gives you an adrenaline shot. Either that or we're just all sick.

Is it true you appear as a zombie in Dead Set?
Yeah, I have a little cameo. What was frustrating was that I couldn't be a featured zombie, I had to be a B-list zombie. I was supposed to be a featured zombie, but my eyes are too weird and bug-like. They couldn't put the contact lenses on me - they tried shoving them in for about 15 minutes, and every time I blinked they came out. My eyelids are too thin or something.

Thin eyelids and bug-eyes? You're sort of reptilian, aren't you?
Yeah, I am. Which you'd think might be a plus in having some sort of undead cameo. You might spot me. People can play a version of Where's Wally?. Blink-and-you'll miss it. But I'm there, and it's not in a crowd scene. It's in episode two.

There are quite a few cameos from former Big Brother housemates, aren't there?
Yeah. They've not been cast in huge roles, where we expect them to act from beginning to end in each episode. They are cameos. There's a logical reason for them to be there. We have them all down at Elstree for a special edition of BBLB, and it's on eviction night, which just happens to be when the zombie apocalypse thing really starts to happen. We wanted people from various different series of Big Brother. We had a load of old housemates, and they were all exceptionally pleasant, even the ones I've been really rude about in print. In fact, I think the rule is, the ruder you've been about someone in print, the nicer they turn out to be, and the bigger an arsehole you feel for having been unpleasant about them. Anyway, we've got a great mix - Bubble, Helen, Kinga, Eugene, Makosi, Ziggy and Brian - a real mix of people from various years. Those bits are almost documentary style - we just put them all in a room together and got them to chat while we walked around with our cameras. Then we did some nasty stuff to surprise them, and recorded their reaction.

So do we get to see any of them being eaten alive?
You might do…

Davina McCall is in it as well. Did she get stuck in with her usual gusto?
Yes, she did. You couldn't have something set at a Big Brother eviction night without Davina. I don't want to give too much away, but she's in it quite a bit, playing quite an unexpected role, and she's brilliant. She hurled herself into it, and I think she'll really surprise people. I don't think they'll quite believe what they're seeing.

You filmed scenes with the crowd outside the Big Brother House. Was that a real eviction crowd?
Yeah, we filmed outside the house on the night Belinda was evicted from this year's show. So before she came out, we 'evicted' a member of our cast. And we'd previously shot a post-eviction interview with her and Davina. The whole thing was improvised and authentic. Davina was just brilliant. She charmed everybody. And wouldn't you know, I've been rude about Davina before - that's a classic example of someone turning up who's so incredibly pleasant that you just feel 'Who is the arsehole in this scenario? It's definitely me!'

You clearly had the backing and support of everyone involved in Big Brother. Was that difficult to secure?
No, it wasn't. We're doing it through Zeppotron, which is connected to Endemol - although the two are creatively totally independent. I would've thought that they'd be much more defensive, and get all sorts of assurances. There was none of that, absolutely none. We had carte blanche to do what we liked. It was almost disappointing. A lot of our characters aren't contestants, but play production staff, and they weren't even worried about that. Jaime Winstone plays Kelly, a production runner on the show. And we have Andy Nyman playing Patrick, a Big Brother producer, who I hasten to add is in no way based on any real producer. He's a real caricature - I like to think he's like the Sherriff of Nottingham [played by Alan Rickman] in Prince of Thieves. The sort of bastard you can really relish. He's a massive wanker, but they didn't seem to mind that at all. We expected they'd stick their oar in loads, but they didn't. Everyone was really helpful - the people at E4 as well. We kept wanting to have a really good argument, but everyone was too helpful.

You didn't use the real Big Brother House, though. Why was that?
It was for practical reasons. While we were shooting, they were doing it up for Big Brother 9. And also we needed to have it slightly bigger than normal, because you need to fit a camera crew inside. The design team had a really difficult task, and did it brilliantly. They recreated the house in Chertsey, at great expense and difficulty.

As a TV critic yourself, is it nerve-wracking making forays into TV? Do you feel that people might be gunning for you, or willing you to fail?
No, not really. Mainly because I don't care about anyone on the planet apart from myself, so **** what they think! I was working in TV before I started writing about TV, so I'm not too cowed by it. We got some fairly harsh reviews for Nathan Barley, but I never felt that people were gunning for me. I just felt that people didn't really get the show, and then it really picked up on DVD and everyone realised that WE WERE RIGHT! THEY WERE WRONG! I think this show will stand and fall on its own merits. If people are genuinely just pointing out things that could be done better, then that's got to be helpful, for future things. The bastards.

DEAD SET DVD

Released exclusively by 4DVD from Monday 3 November 2008

From Nathan Barley co-creator and Guardian writer Charlie Brooker comes the outrageous new thriller Dead Set, E4’s first ever horror series, released exclusively by 4DVD on 3 November.

Featuring all five episodes, the Dead Set DVD includes a raft of extras including:

- Interviews with writer Charlie Brooker and Director Yann Demange
- Behind the scenes featurettes
- Special effects featurettes
- On set with Dead Set
- Deleted and extended scenes

Davina McKill featurette - an interview with Davina McCall on her iconic cameo role

You've Got to Get Them in the Head featurette - an interview with prosthetics and make-up artists on the perfect way to kill a zombie

8 Out of 10 Cats - a segment of Jimmy Carr's C4 quiz panel show made exclusively for Dead Set to be featured as background material for the feature

Pippa's Eviction featurette - behind the scenes look at Pippa's eviction sequence filmed live during a real Big Brother eviction night

Deleted and extended scenes

Interview with Dead Set director Yann Demange

On Set with Dead Set featurette - interviews with Jaime Winstone and other cast members

Interview with creator Charlie Brooker - Charlie talks in-depth on his inspiration for Dead Set and what drove him to create it, and gives a guided tour of the set

Waste Not Want Not - Deleted scene with main character Patrick (Andy Nyman)

I Am Patrick Hear Me Roar - interview with cast member Andy Nyman

Further making-of sequences with prosthetics artists on how Dead Set's zombies were created

Extended scenes - Big Brother live feeds

Release date: 3 November 2008
RRP: £19.99
Running time: 141 mins
Extras running time: 58 mins
Format: one disc
Cert: 18
Cat No: C4DVD10243