Press release from Channel 4:
Quote:
E4 has commissioned a new horror drama series set in a fictional Big Brother house.
The new five-part thriller, Dead Set, is written by Charlie Brooker and will be the centre-piece of E4’s autumn 2008 schedule.
The drama is set in a Britain where the walking dead are attacking the living. It stars Jaime Winstone (Donkey Punch, Goldplated) as a production runner working on a fictional series of Big Brother who tries to fend off the walking dead alongside the remaining housemates, her producer boss Patrick (Andy Nyman, Severance) and boyfriend Riq (Riz Ahmed, Britz).
Dead Set also features a range of cameo guest appearances including Davina McCall and several former Big Brother housemates.
In Dead Set the Big Brother house suddenly becomes one of the few remaining safe places in the country, with the contestants blissfully unaware of the horrific events unfolding outside. Until an eviction night where all hell breaks loose…
Over the ensuing days, in a cruel echo of the game show that 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.
Charlie Brooker is well known for his weekly columns in The Guardian and his BBC 4 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.
He commented: "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."
Angela Jain, Head of E4 said, “Charlie Brooker is a hugely talented writer. It's a real coup that he has penned something so unique for E4. Dead Set’s take on horror and the world of Big Brother will I hope, surprise and entertain viewers and be a real treat to watch. “
Dead Set (1 x 60 min, 4 x 30 min) is produced by Zeppotron (an Endemol Company). The series has been commissioned by Head of E4 Angela Jain and Channel 4’s Commissioning Editor for Comedy, Shane Allen. The Executive Producers are Charlie Brooker and Zeppotron Managing Director, Annabel Jones. The Director is Yann Demange, whose recent credits include Secret Diary of a Call Girl.
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