DEAD SET
Charlie Brooker (pictured opposite, centre) reckons audiences will see Davina in“‘a new light in his new zombie meets Big Brother drama
the small screen and from a UK channel. Dead Set is genuinely both convincing and frightening. the zombies belonging to the racing. flesh- ripping, adrenaline-crazed type as originated in 28 Days Later. rather than the grey skinned mob so affectionately sent up in Shaun of the Dead. As in the vast majority of zombie films. their origins are. at least initially. not even hinted at — all we need to know is that they‘re hungry. Clearly Brooker has done his research into the genre. ‘I watched a lot of zombie lilms.‘ he says simply. ‘ln 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. and if you imagine something suddenly afflicted them all. and they were all coming after you. then you’re in big trouble. Except. of course. modern day zombies have evolved. they learnt to run in about 2002. 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.‘
‘THE RUDER YOU'V E BEEN ABOUT SOMEONE IN PRINT, THEY NICER THEY TURN OUT TO BE'
Reality TV is a genre Brooker is even more familiar with. While he‘s never actually worked in the format. Brooker has analysed. deconstructed and slagged it off many times in his Guardian column and on BBC Four‘s Screenwipe. even — bizarrely enough — ending up at Glastonbury festival with former evictec Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace for a Guardian piece in 2007. A bunch of former housemates actually appear. which is surely designed as a crowd- pleasing scenario. given the garishly Mika- themed zombie holocaust which is to follow.
‘They were all exceptionally pleasant.‘ reflects Brooker. ‘liven 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
20 THE LIST 16—30 Oct 2008
arseholc you feel for having been unpleasant about them. ‘
Brooker has the advantage that his production company. Zeppotron. is actually owned by Big Brother‘s makers lindemol. He’s quick to point out that he still had absolute creative autonomy in making Dead Set. which surprised him. and also that everyone at the show was only too willing to help. liven the biggest names. ‘You
couldn‘t have something set at a Big Brother
eviction night without Davina.‘ he says. ‘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. And wouldn‘t you know. I’ve been rude about Davina before — that‘s a classic example of someone tuming up who‘s so incredibly pleasant that you just feel. “Who’s the arseholc in this scenario? It‘s definitely me!‘“
Strong performances abound throughout — particularly from Jaime Winstone as Kelly. a put- upon young production runner — alongside moments of the blackest humour. and probably the most stomach-chuming representation of the old anti-zombie ‘go for the head’ maxim ever. Yet. also. despite Brooker‘s earlier protestations about chin-scratching. Dead Set’s use and abuse of so many familiar tropes from British reality
'l‘V’s biggest show will undoubtedly alter the A
perception of anyone watching. It might even. it the pun can be excused, be one more nail in an already tired genre‘s coffin.
Dead Set is on Channel 4 from Mon 27 until Fri 31 Oct. The collected DVD of the series is out Mon 3 Nov. The new series of Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe starts Tue 18 Nov, on BBC Four.
5 HOW TO BE SUBVERSIVE ON TV
Break taboos The Sex Pistols may have used the word ‘fuck’ for only the third. fourth and fifth times on British TV. But far more ' - 1 impressive was Professor Gunther von Hagens' Channel 4 televised autopsy in 2002 — the first public autopsy in 170 years - which received record complaints and very nearly saw him arrested.
~ *- é Be satirical ' ' " Dressing up acerbic. loaded commentary in the paper-thin undergarments of . . comedy is another « . effective technique. one pioneered by David Frost and his crew of political commentators on That Was the Week That Was with its groundbreaking lampooning of the 603 establishment. However the 905 was when satire was truly rife, none more so than in the genius of The Day Today and Brass Eye. the spoof news shows which, thanks to the likes of bomb dogs and CAKE. often seemed to make more sense than the real news. See also Blackadder, Armando Iannucci's The Thick of It. The Simpsons and even Da Ali G Show. which thoroughly exploited the goodwill (or vanity) of people when a camera is pointed at them. On a similar theme but different format. 80' Selecta's sketches mocked the Heat generation’s obsession with celeb culture minutae. attracting criticism for alleged racism, misogyny and wilful puerility along the way — none of which prevented it from being hugely popular. Be strange Post-Brass Eye, Chris Morris took his skewed comic vision to and altogether darker place with Blue Jam — a place momentarily visited decades earlier by the peculiar genius of The Prisoner. Monty Python ’3 Flying Circus and Spike Milligan’s 0. VIC Reeves' Big Night Out may have been more about Tommy Cooper or Eric Morecambe than excavating the grim recesses of Milligan’s trouble psyche. but it didn't make it any less funny.
,
Monkey around with conventions The rule book is ripe for rewriting — see Not The Nine O'C/ock News for the shake up of sketch comedy — as is the the i sacred cow of ‘youth TV'. which started out well. turning heads successfully with The Tube and Network 7 only to later fall foul of its own worthiness. reaching its nadir with The Girlie Show and the short-lived rave-in-a-room at 6.45pm. Dance Energy. The Office deserves credit for implicitly making the suggestion that ‘car crash‘ reality TV means we can’t really be shocked by what's on the box any more. However. souped up. lo-fi versions of Punk 'd like Scare Tactics suggest otherwise. as does Brooker’s Dead Set. which sees shock return in earnest. back round in one full. satirical circle. (Vincent Forrester and Mark Robertson)