Bloody offal or biting satire? (Dead Set)

Member Name: thedevilinme

Product:	Dead Set
Date:	10/01/09 (264 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very funny

Disadvantages: Not for the sqeamish

I had no idea what to expect from this, other than it was a brilliant idea by CH4, and lets face it, how many brilliant ideas do Channel Four have these days. That idea in question was to spoof Big Brother in the cruelest and most self-deprecating of ways, the house being over run by zombies, what most people think about the cretins who apply to go on the show, spinning as much satire off the back of that scenario as possible...
Watching Dead Set was almost as if Channel Four, by funding this mini-series, were subconsciously fed up of the bloody show and the tiresome anchor it has become to the station - stale, uninventive and tacky... a carbuncle that is now the exact opposite of its original remit from its brilliant debut in 2000, what you could also say of Channel Four. But they cant off load it because it's ten percent of their profits and they have just signed a long deal with the production company so to stop the Dutch company who created BB taking it to another station, this brilliant three parter the only way to let off that frustration. The way Davina's zombie ripps out 'Bubbles' guts would suggest she feels the same. I honestly thought she got pregnant that year just to wreck it so to get out through the back door. In fact how cool would it be if the show was over run by zombies next summer!

The cleverness here is that Dead Set will appeal to both those who love the show and those who absolutely loathe it, some of the best TV writing this year by far on show here, even though we are only ten minutes into 2009. This has awards written all over it. It also has one of the best TV scenes for ages. The sequence in question is when the surviving contestants enjoy the Friday night post eviction party, as camp, vacuous and attention seeking as ever, bopping away to Mica's hit song, whilst outside the soundproof walls the crowd and technicians are ripping each others guts and eyeballs out , including Davina`s, as the zombie fever spreads around the complex. That scene is the perfect riposte to the awful 2008 summer Big Brother run that I'm sure inspired the writers for this drama/horror. Putting Dead set out after this year's Celebrity Big Brother prime time slot says it all.

-The Plot-

We are midway through a fictional summer run of Big Brother (even though it was filmed in the winter between the two real Big Brothers) as we pick up the action on eviction night, the usual mix of nobodies, irritating gay men, and wannabes, performing like seals for the cameras, Friday night so live to the nation. Once one of them is voted out the party is quickly in full swing inside the house, the housemates bopping away to pop music, lots of men in pink feathers alongside alarmingly orange twentysomething girls in short skirts relishing their 15 minutes of fame.

Behind the scenes the minions are running around for their bastard of a boss Patrick (Andy Nyman), barking out the orders between snorting lines of coke in the toilet (presumably a well researched role), despising his staff as much as the contestants, only Davina getting any respect as the shows 'talent'. In another room in the complex there's a reunion gig raging for previous contestants, everyone from the real Ziggy Lichman to Brian Bello enjoying champagne and canapés.

As Patrick and the producers look at the TV monitors they ignore the BBC one, a big news story breaking around the country, but Patrick more concerned they will get bumped for those live news reports. Kelly (Jaime Winstone) is the lowest of the low on the show, a runner, recently told to send another production assistant to the station by Patrick to pick up the parents of tonight's evictee, she also getting a tongue lashing from Patrick down the phone because they aren't here yet. As the courtesy car races back to the studio the driver stops to help a motorist in distress on a country road, only to be greeted by the horrific site of a zombie munching on a dead body. The driver scrambles back to the car, only for one of the parents to be bitten by the said zombie, the car screeching away from the immediate danger to the safety of the studio with the zombie bug now on board, but all oblivious to as they phone for help, the security guard quickly bitten at the studio gates, he then stumbling into the Friday night crowd and so zombie mayhem ensues.

Meanwhile the contestants are oblivious to all this, partying away inside the fan and zombie proof house. In the production office its mayhem, the zombies now inside the outer walls of the house, shredding the camera men and crew, and, rather fabously, rushing into the previous Big Brother contestants party to cause further carnage, Saskia and 'Bubbles' guts everywhere!

Patrick and a ditzy blonde make-up girl (Madra Ihegborow) manage to board themselves into an office without being bitten, zombie Davina clawing at their door, whilst in another room Kelly is smooching with a male production assistant and still oblivious to all the chaos, she cheating on her boyfriend Riq (Riz Ahmed), who is on the way to the studio from the station to see her because he suspects so, his first encounter with the zombies about to hit when he arrives at the deserted station.

In the house the housemates are becoming aware Big brother is no longer there, cameras not following their every move, the familiar commanding voices over the loud speakers eerily absent. When Kelly bursts into the house with a knife and blood all over her the contestants think it's a joke, a task to test them. But they will soon find out it isn't when the zombies attack the inner sanctum, taking two of their number. It's every man and woman for themselves now as the infestation sweeps across the Elstree Studios were the show is shot and the rest of the country, rather ironically the Big Brother house being one of the safest places in Britain right now.

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Space: There everywhere. We are never going to get out of here.
Angel: Does that mean we are not on telly anymore?
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= = = Cast = = =

The housemates...

Chizzy Akudolu ... Angel
Shelley Conn ... Claire
Raj Ghatak ... Grayson
Jennifer Aries ... Sophie
Cavan Clerkin ... Dennis
Elyes Gabel ... Danny
Kevin Eldon ... Joplin
Adam Deacon ... Space
Maxi Moffat ... Gormless
Rachel Ogilvy ... Angela
Warren Brown ... Marky
Kathleen McDermott ... Pippa

Production team...

Andy Nyman ... Patrick
Kelly (Jaime Winstone)
Kelly Whenham ... Chloe
Riz Ahmed ... Riq
Liz May Brice ... Alex
Beth Cordingly ... Veronica
Madra Ihegborow ... Makeup Girl
Kyle Summercorn ... Bob
Drew Edwards ... Colin

Previous BB contestants and C4 employees in the show...

Davina McCall ... Herself
Krishnan Guru-Murthy ... Himself
Helen Adams ... Herself
Brian Belo ... Himself
Makosi Musambasi ... Herself
Eugene Sully ... Himself
Imogen Thomas ... Herself
Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace ... Herself
Saskia Howard-Clarke ... Herself
Marcus Bentley ... Himself
Kinga Karolczak ... Herself
Ziggy Lichman ... Himself
Paul 'Bubble' Ferguson ... Himself

-The Conclusion-

I have to say my finger was hovering over the five stars for this although I generally reserve those TV ratings for the West Wing and Curb Your Enthusiasm on dooyoo. It has to be something special to beat those guys. Dead Set is great fun and the type of satire we need more of on terrestrial TV. As I said before this will appeal to all manner of viewers, even the horror fans out there, and well worth buying on its DVD format.

Running as three, one hour episodes last week, there to coincide with the launch of Celebrity Big Brother, and as five, thirty minute episodes on E4 to build up to this Big Brother the week before, this didn't get great viewing figures, Thursday night's final episode managing less than one million. I find that rather odd because it was on straight after Big Brother and I know quite a few people who did see it that doing normally watch C4, especially Big Brother.

Shot in that hand held camera style that makes some people dizzy, this is television drama at its best and most naughty, its 10pm nighttime slot allowing this to be extremely gory in that Dog Soldiers black comedy style. With those excellent 28 Days Later signature jerky special effects that allow the guts to fly it has a real touch of quality to it too, making a mockery of the BBC`s recent 'Survivors' series. This had an excuse for all the actors to be under 40 and attractive. The writing is acerbic and deliciously scathing about the tiredness and cynical nature of the show Big Brother has become, Andy Nyman's production boss character given free will to rip into the show like the zombies do the twitching bodies.

I do love shows that don't hold back with the writing and bite the hand that feeds them. I'm a Big Brother fan (well its original ethos) and enjoying the current series, but I do feel the summer series ran its course a good three years ago and so they deserved this and should take it as a portent, perhaps move the celeb series to the summer for a longer run. I would much rather see interesting celebrities in their bikinis for three months than the no-marks acting like no marks and expecting fame off the back of it. Where is 'Bubble' now we wonder? But as they ran audition adverts for the summer series during Dead Set's commercial break it seems to be business as usual at C4. But even the most hardcore fan who watched Dead Set would agree with fictional controller Patrick's telling comments that the housemates were all of 'bunch of talentless w****r, wasting everybody's time', a line that would have resonated with the real Big Brother producers and technicians watching on and could not be said of the people who made this.


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Danny: I'm not going out there man
Patrick: Don't be a d**k. Think of an escape plan.
Danny: Why?
Patrick: (In a sarcastic tone) Ok, think of it is a task.
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Run-Time 180 minutes (5 x 30 episodes for E4 and 3 1 Hour episodes for C4)
Available on Amzon.co.uk
http://www.e4.com/deadset/
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Summary: The death of big Brother