Dead Set

Channel 4

E4

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.