The End on the telly

It seems that Apocalypse telly is all the rage these days, quite literally so in the case of Charlie Brooker's Dead Set which ran for 5 days on E4 during the week running up to Halloween.

Brooker's vision of a world where a deadly virus (very reminiscent of the RAGE virus from 28 Days Later) is reanimating the dead and sending them on a cannibalistic rampage has a twist; "Just about the only people who aren't aware of it, initially at least, are a bunch of contestants in a fictional series of Big Brother". The Big Brother contestants form the core cast of the series along with some of the people from the other side of the cameras. Fantastically, these include a zombified Divina McCall who, to her credit, plays the role of a flesh hungry ghoul extremely convincingly.


Many people seem to have become convinced that Dead Set was in some sense an intellectual swipe at reality TV but Brooker himself has already denied this:

Q: In choosing the Big Brother setting, are you satirising reality TV, or is it just about the fact that it's quite a good setting for a horror series?

A: It's kind of in-between. In the original Dawn of the Dead, which was sort of a model for this, the setting has obviously got satirical undertones. I would say the same about this. But while you could spend your time watching it thinking ”Mmmmm, yes, a satirical point”, most of the time you're going to be thinking ”Help! Here come the zombies!“ It's kind of a scary romp, first and foremost. It's not a chin-stroking exercise.

The series can be watched online in full at http://www.e4.com/deadset/ and is out on DVD now.


The BBC's new post Apocalyptic series Survivors (based on the fantastic 1970s Terry Nation series of the same name) debuted tonight on BBC1 and, so far, seems pretty promising.

Set in the present day, Survivors focuses on the world in the aftermath of a devastating virus which wipes out most of the world's population. What would we do? How would any of us cope in a brave new world where all traditional 21st Century comforts - electricity, clean running water, advanced technology - have disappeared?

These are the questions faced by the bewildered but resilient group of survivors at the centre of the drama. It is an opportunity for new beginnings, but with no society, no police and no law and order, they now face terrible dangers - not just the daily struggle for food and water but also the deadly threat from other survivors.

Survivors promises a much less bloody and markedly more arts and crafts based post Apocalyptic landscape than Dead Set. However, it is perhaps worth noting that Greg Preston (played by actor Ian McCulloch) left the original series to fight zombies in Zombie Flesh Eaters, the Beeb's version of the Apocalypse evidently being a little too tame for him. This time around Greg Preston is played by Paterson Joseph, rumored to be taking over from David Tennant as Doctor Who in 2010. Will this "re-imagining" last as long as the original or will this initial 6 episode series be the be all and end all? Only time will tell.

You can watch the latest episode of Survivors and keep up to date with the series at http://www.bbc.co.uk/survivors/index.shtml

- John Reppion.

Something for every Apocalypse

We take our job seriously here at The End Is Nigh and as such all us regular contributors have sworn a solemn oath to make sure we're as prepared as we can possibly be for every eventuality. Armageddon is not an easy thing to ready yourself for of course, not least because no-one can be 100% certain in what form The End will come. It can sometimes be hard to find time for pondering Eschatological matters in amongst all the day to day stuff like staring blankly at a computer screen, buying milk and arguing with pets but, luckily for me, there is a fair bit of cross cultural Apocalypticism going on these days which makes it a whole lot easier to trick yourself into doing "research".


Max Brooks' The Zombie Survival Guide - Complete Protection from the Living Dead was originally published back in 2003 and combines traditional survivalism with Romero inspired undead shenanigans.

From Wikipedia:

The first chapter is entitled The Undead: Myths and Realities. It lays down the specific ground rules that are referenced repeatedly in the book. The most important of these describes "Solanum", the fictional virus that creates a zombie, along with details on how it is spread (such as through an open wound, when coming in contact with infected blood), treatment of the infected (suicide or amputation) and the abilities and behavioral patterns of the Undead.

The second chapter, Weapons and Combat Techniques, discusses the weapons at the reader's disposal and weighs them against the various threats that may be faced during confrontations with the undead. The book recommends the M1 Carbine and a machete, as portrayed on the cover of the book.

The third chapter, On the Defense, focuses on how to turn your home into a base where you could stay for weeks and where to go if you run out of supplies or the undead overrun your home.

The fourth chapter, entitled On the Run, discusses the rules and necessities of traveling through zombie-infested territory. It also discusses types of terrain and the pros and cons of vehicles.

While chapters three and four emphasize avoiding zombies, chapter five, On the Attack, specifically deals with engaging ghouls to ensure their destruction. It discusses the proper strategies and tools to eradicate the Living Dead from your area.

The sixth chapter, "Living in an Undead World" looks at survival during a doomsday scenario, a Class-4 outbreak would see zombies becoming the dominant species on Earth. Advice in this section is adapted from previous sections; recommendations for surviving a siege is repeated, though altered for relevancy to the long-term entrenchment a Class-4 outbreak represents. Discusses potential places to make your new home and what to do and what to watch out for once you have your corner of civilization set up.

The Steampunk's Guide to the Apocalypse (available to buy HERE for $5 or to download for free HERE) was written and published by SteamPunk Magazine founder and contributing editor Magpie Killjoy in 2007. In Magpie's own words the book "covers most of the essentials that a SteamPunk will need when they recreate their lives and societies in the shell of our soon-to-be-ruinous civilization" but, whether you are a SteamPunk or not, the Guide is chocked full of useful, practical and fascinating information.

Chapter One: Whither & Weather - covers shelter and choosing where to live in a post Apocalyptic scenerio factoring in availability of materials, "social considerations" and so on.

Chapter Two: The Accumulation, Filtration,and Storage of Water - is pretty self explanatory but increadibly informative.

Chapter Three: Assessing the Bounty of Nature and Ruin - "I mean not to mince Words. The greatest source of Resources available after a societal Collapse will not be our dear, over-taxed Earth. It will be our existing and immediately antiquated Institutions. Everything will be available. The Following are simply some Examples of where to look."

Chapter Four: Scoundrels, and Defense there from - deals not only with weaponry but also semaphore, morse code, syphers and so on.

Chapter Five: A brief Introduction to Contagion - "Long now have we adapted our Bodies to a Life devoid of Contamination, and it is quite possible that we have grown soft therefrom. Dependant upon Antibiotics instead of Antibodies, Sanitation and Health will be of no small Importance in the Decades to come, are we to survive."

The book concludes with two appendices Appendix A: Survival Scenarios and Appendix B: Further Reading, the latter of which is a veritable goldmine of survivalist material in and of itself.

A neat little bonus is that these two books actually compliment each other very nicely, much of the material contained in one being lacking from the other. So, should the undead suddenly rise up and start feasting on the flesh of the living, you'll find me in a remote, south-facing, fortified compound wearing my bowler and blasting off zombie heads with a homemade blackpowder blunderbuss. To be perfectly honest, I'm quite looking forward to it.

- John Reppion

Visit www.ZombieSurvivalGuide.com and www.steampunkmagazine.com for more info.