[James]

About Dead Set and Big Brother...

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com...lie.4628787.jp

http://entertainment.timesonline.co....cle4999370.ece

Charlie Brooker’s new show Dead Set is Big Brother mixed with a zombie apocalypse. So is this Charlie living out his fantasy to rip reality contestants’ heads off? And how does he rate Davina McCall’s performance as a flesh-eating zombie monster? I put these big questions to the man himself, before getting stuck into Jamie Winstone…

It was a moist Wednesday night at a hotel in central London. Dozens of under-dressed journalists filled the room, eating nibbles, sipping wine and trying to make eye-contact with the famous people. Dead Set cast members did the rounds, giving out air-kisses and telling us about their part in the show: “Davina rips my throat out,” said one actress, “it’s amazing!”

And speak of the devil… in walks Davina. She looks gorgeous. All eyes fix on the BB hostess as she too works the room doing zombie impressions. Before long we’re summoned to the nearby screening room, where awaits a babble of E4 bosses, and Charlie Brooker, to tell us about Dead Set. Once they’ve finished yapping, they show us the first episode – which I shall now sum up for you as briefly as possible: it’s good.

And for those wanting a slightly less brief summary, here we go: Britain is overwhelmed by a zombie apocalypse which wipes almost everybody out (zombies eat the humans, humans die, humans become zombies, zombies sniff out more humans – you know the drill), apart from the contestants in the Big Brother house, who carry on bitching and arguing and getting dolled-up for a live eviction, oblivious to the fact that outside the house, all the placard-waving BB-fans are being devoured like a giant bucket of chicken.

While most of the BB production team, including Davina, succumb to the zombies, production runner Kelly (played by Jamie Winstone) manages to fend off her bloodthirsty ex-workmates and takes refuge in the only place secure enough to keep the zombies at bay – the Big Brother house. Meanwhile, the rabid flesh-eaters including Davina (who is AMAZING as a zombie!), are outside devouring human remains and sniffing out their next fleshy snack.

It’s gory, it’s scary, and it’s dead good. The screening ends, everybody claps, and I’m ushered to a table full of canapés for a chat with Charlie Brooker…

What possessed you to write Dead Set?
I was watching 24 and I thought it’d be better with zombies. And once I had that idea, it was annoying me that nobody else had done it so, erm, I did it.

So why set it in the Big Brother house?
I was watching the series of Big Brother that had Science and Derek and Maxwell and Saskia in it, and I just thought it would be the perfect setting. I thought it’d be a funny and contemporary, and obviously there are some satirical undercurrents (about reality TV) by setting in there too.

So could it just as easily have been set in X Factor?
Well, the problem about X Factor is that it doesn’t have a house, and because all zombie stories end up being a siege, you need a setting where that can happen. Although we have actually joked about setting the next series in I’m A Celebrity… but I think that could be a bit nauseating!

Do you think you might have killed off Big Brother – tearing its heart out with your pesky satirical spin-off?
(Laughs) Have I killed off Big Brother? No, I don’t think so! I think the only thing that will kill it off will be if nobody tunes-in anymore or if somebody goes mental in the house and strangles another housemate.

Would you go on Celebrity Big Brother, Charlie?
No, because of the toilet arrangements! I think everyone wonders how they’d fare in the Big Brother house, but I just know I wouldn’t cope, because if I’m even sharing a small bungalow with people and there’s only one loo, I can’t bare it. I have to wait until they’ve all gone to bed until I’ll have a poo! So knowing that there are cameras around too, I just wouldn’t be able to handle it.

How do you rate Davina’s performance as a zombie?
I think she did amazingly well! I assumed it would be hard to get her to do it, and it wasn’t at all. And she was in that un-dead form for quite a long time – she’s in most of the five episodes. She’s definitely one of our best zombies, if not THE best.

Why didn’t you make it funny like Shaun of the Dead?
We were quite keen to steer clear of the out-and-out comedy angle, although there are quite a lot of jokes in there. It’s a different sort of humour to Shaun of the Dead. I love Shaun of the Dead but in that they’re kind of aware they’re in a zombie film, whereas this is an odd tone – in some bits we’re trying to be really scary and frightening and other bits you’ve got a zombie in a wheelchair and all kinds of stupid stuff going on. I hope we’ve managed to pull it off.

And with that my time with Charlie was over. A few minutes later, I was face-to-face with Jamie Winstone. I chose my questions carefully…

Are you pleased with Dead Set?
Yeah, really pleased. I think we’ve done something really different. Don’t you think it’s really scary? It makes you s*** yourself in some bits and p*** yourself in others. It’s real extremes. Charlie did a great job.

What was it like working with Charlie?
It was cool, he’s a great guy. He’s got really good ideas and comes up with great lines. He was really easy to work with. There were bits where we’d sit there and go – ‘Hmm, would I really say that if an ex-workmate had just tried to bite my head off? Probably not!’, then we’d change it and move on. He’s really good to work with.

Jamie, would you ever go on Celebrity Big Brother?
Er… no!

How do you rate Davina’s performance?
She was amazing! She did such a great job. She totally got into being a zombie. I didn’t realise she could act.

And on that note, my time was up. All that remained was to grab two more salmon parcels, air-kiss a few cast members, and hope that nobody would try and bite me on the tube ride home.

http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/tv/f...entid=10284991