--- title: "Dead Set" year: 2008 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/dead-set" fi1m_id: "dead-set" imdb_id: "tt1285482" tmdb_id: 7831 wikidata_id: "Q265335" fi1m_score: 77 critics_score: 68 critics_reviews: 5 published: "2026-10-07T15:03:47.685337+00:00" updated: "2026-10-07T15:03:48.428625+00:00" region: "CZ" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Dead Set (2008) Created by Charlie Brooker · 30m · Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy ## Identity Dead Set - **Canonical:** https://film.one/tv/dead-set - **Type:** Series - **Fi1m ID:** dead-set - **IMDb ID:** tt1285482 - **TMDB ID:** 7831 - **Wikidata ID:** Q265335 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285482/, https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/7831, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q265335 **Fi1m score: 77** · Critics 68 (early) from 5 reviews *In a sentence:* The only series of Big Brother in which staying in the house was the sensible option > Charlie Brooker shuts the Big Brother house during a zombie outbreak and Yann Demange directs it like a proper horror film, fast and bloody and unsentimental. The satire is broader than it needs to be, but the fright is real. ## Synopsis It is eviction night on a fictional series of Big Brother. Inside the house, Pippa (Kathleen McDermott), Veronica (Beth Cordingly), Marky (Warren Brown), Space (Adam Deacon) and Joplin (Kevin Eldon) wait to hear who is going, while Davina McCall, playing herself, works up the crowd outside. In the gallery the producer Patrick Goad (Andy Nyman) shouts at his staff and the runner Kelly Povell (Jaime Winstone) fetches the tea. Kelly’s boyfriend Riq Rahman (Riz Ahmed) is miles away, trying to get back to her. Nobody in the compound has paid attention to the news. Then the dead reach the eviction crowd, the cameras keep rolling, and the housemates, sealed behind the one set of locked doors in the country, are the last people in Britain to find out what has happened. ## Review Charlie Brooker’s first drama arrived three years before [*Black Mirror*](https://film.one/tv/black-mirror), and it is the same idea in rougher clothes: take the television we watch and ask what it would do under pressure. Here the television is *Big Brother*, the pressure is the walking dead, and the five episodes, first shown from 27 October 2008 and carrying an 18 certificate, are shorter and nastier than the premise suggests. It is a horror serial with a satirical streak, and most of it works. Yann Demange directs all five, and his first decision is right: the dead run. Tat Radcliffe shoots the house in the flat, even light of the real programme, every corner visible and nowhere to hide, and the compound outside handheld, the camera lurching when the people holding it panic. Chris Wyatt cuts the outbreak in short grabs, the way the real show would cut a row in the kitchen, so for a minute it is hard to tell the drama from the programme inside it. He does it once and leaves it alone. Andy Nyman has the best part. Patrick Goad is the producer, who hates the viewers, the housemates and most of his own staff, and keeps saying so after the end of the world. Nyman plays him without a flicker of apology, and the serial is sharpest whenever he is talking. Jaime Winstone’s Kelly, the runner who fetches the tea, is the only member of staff who is any use, and Winstone plays her tired rather than heroic, which is why we believe her. Riz Ahmed, outside the perimeter as her boyfriend Riq, carries the road half of the story with Liz May Brice’s Alex and makes a lot of a part that is mostly running and phoning. Inside, Kevin Eldon’s Joplin is the housemate who thinks he is above the house and says so in long words, and Eldon lets us see the fear under the vocabulary. Kathleen McDermott’s Pippa, in the sequins Rebecca Hale put her in for eviction night, gets dirtier and sadder as the hours go by, and the frock does more storytelling than some of the dialogue. Warren Brown’s Marky, Adam Deacon’s Space and Beth Cordingly’s Veronica are types anyone who watched the real thing will know at a glance; it saves time, and none of them surprises us. Here is what it did to us. The first episode’s eviction night, the crowd roaring behind the barriers, Davina McCall as herself working them up, had us grinning at how exactly it got the real thing. Then the roar changed. We stopped grinning, and the next time something ran at the camera we jumped, properly, and were slightly cross with ourselves for jumping at a programme about Big Brother. What Brooker does with McCall in that first episode we will not describe; it is the serial’s best joke, and it is also horrible. The satire is the weak part. Patrick tells us the audience are no different from the things outside, after the pictures have already told us. The middle episodes settle into a pattern: someone leaves for supplies, makes a bad decision, comes back changed, and by the fourth we could see each turn coming a scene ahead. Dan Jones and Matthew Robert Cooper’s music, low drones and a thudding pulse, does the job under the chases and is forgotten the moment they stop. At half an hour an episode, some housemates are gone before they have been anyone in particular. George A. Romero put the dead in a shopping mall in [*Dawn of the Dead*](https://film.one/film/dawn-of-the-dead) (1978) and let the joke sit there for two hours. Brooker puts them in a television studio and shouts it, which is less elegant but suits the subject; nobody involved in *Big Brother* ever whispered anything. Next to *Black Mirror* this is cruder, bloodier and more fun. Watch it in one sitting, late, with the curtains drawn. The 18 certificate is earned several times over, mostly in the fourth episode. It is not for anyone who could never stand *Big Brother*; the joke needs you to have sat through some of it. Everyone else should find it does what a zombie story is for: it makes a familiar room frightening. *Fi1m score 77, published 7 October 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is Dead Set worth watching?** *Dead Set* is worth watching for anyone who has sat through some *Big Brother* and can take a fast, bloody zombie serial, and we scored it 77. Yann Demange directs the five half-hour episodes like a proper horror film, and the fright is real. The satire is broader than it needs to be, and the middle episodes fall into a pattern you can see coming. **How long is Dead Set, and what is it rated?** *Dead Set* has episodes of about 30m. It is a drama and sci-fi & fantasy series. **Where can I watch Dead Set in Czechia?** *Dead Set* is not on any streaming or rental service in Czechia at the moment. It is available in 6 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How violent or frightening is Dead Set, and is it suitable for children?** *Dead Set* carries an 18 certificate and earns it several times over, mostly in the fourth episode, so it is not suitable for children. The dead run, the attacks are quick and gory, and we jumped properly more than once. Teenagers under 18 and the squeamish should look elsewhere; the humour does not soften the violence. **What should I watch after Dead Set?** After *Dead Set*, try [*Dawn of the Dead*](https://film.one/film/dawn-of-the-dead) (1978, Fi1m 86): Romero’s dead in a shopping mall; the template Brooker is shouting over. Then [*Train to Busan*](https://film.one/film/train-to-busan) (2016, Fi1m 84): Running dead on a Korean express train, with more feeling than the premise promises. ### Reviews we read (5) - **The Guardian**, Chris Moran (80/100, inferred): Moran gives Dead Set’s opening episode a strongly positive verdict, finding that it delivers its high-concept premise with confidence. He singles out its sharp reality-TV satire and praises the production’s style and craft. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/tvandradioblog/2008/oct/28/dead-set) - **IndieWire**, Steve Greene (75/100, inferred): Greene recommends the series as a compelling companion to Black Mirror, despite some shaggy side elements. He particularly praises Brooker’s tense character decisions and the consequences that make the horror feel earned. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/dead-set-netflix-zombie-reality-show-charlie-brooker-1201910049/) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Barry Garron (30/100, inferred): Garron finds the series neither suspenseful nor clever enough, and says it falls short on several levels. He singles out the obnoxious showrunner Patrick as its most interesting character. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/dead-set-tv-review-32200/) - **Digital Spy**, Neil Wilkes (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the series a brilliant, serious horror drama rather than the cheesy spoof it might appear to be. They single out Davina’s transformation as particularly poignant. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a132833/e4-zombie-drama-dead-set-any-good/) - **Den of Geek** (70/100, inferred): The critic finds episode four effective, with strong character moments despite some overly obvious satire. Kathleen McDermott’s performance and the episode’s startling scare and visceral gore stand out for praise. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/dead-set-review-episode-4/) ## Details - **Created by:** Charlie Brooker - **Creator:** Charlie Brooker - **Director:** Yann Demange - **Writer:** Charlie Brooker - **Cinematography:** Tat Radcliffe - **Editor:** Chris Wyatt - **Music:** Dan Jones, Matthew Robert Cooper - **Costume design:** Rebecca Hale - **Producer:** Angie Daniel, Chrissy Skinns - **Cast:** Kevin Eldon as Joplin; Beth Cordingly as Veronica; Warren Brown as Marky; Riz Ahmed as Riq Rahman; Davina McCall as Herself; Elyes Gabel as Danny; Liz May Brice as Alex Bryson; Adam Deacon as Space - **Runtime:** 30m - **Release (Czechia):** 27 October 2008 - **Genres:** Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQjq639WPiU ## Where to watch in Czechia Not streaming, renting or buying in Czechia at the last check. Also available in: AU, CA, FR, GB, NZ, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Dawn of the Dead* (1978), Fi1m 86: Romero’s dead in a shopping mall; the template Brooker is shouting over. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/dawn-of-the-dead.md) - *[REC]* (2007): A Spanish television crew locked in a building with something fast; the camera never stops. - *Train to Busan* (2016), Fi1m 84: Running dead on a Korean express train, with more feeling than the premise promises. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/train-to-busan.md) - *Series 7: The Contenders* (2001): Reality television as a shooting contest, played straight and cheap and still sharp. - *Black Mirror* (2011): Brooker takes the same suspicion of the screen and spreads it across the whole house. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/dead-set