Before creating the popular series Black Mirror, Charlie Brooker showed his talent with Dead Set, a darkly funny take on reality TV that imagined a zombie apocalypse happening during Big Brother. Since then, after Netflix picked up Black Mirror from Channel 4 and transformed it from a small British success into a worldwide hit, Brooker has become well-known to audiences everywhere.
Charlie Brooker has a long history in the entertainment industry. Before creating the popular series Black Mirror, he was already known for his witty and critical commentary, appearing on various comedy and review programs. Even before Black Mirror launched and became his breakthrough hit, he was honing his signature style – a mix of biting satire and unsettling, futuristic themes – in a lesser-known but excellent zombie show.
What Is Dead Set About?
In a lot of ways, Dead Set paved the way for Black Mirror. It was where Charlie Brooker perfected his signature style of blending scary themes with current events and social commentary, which would later make Black Mirror so groundbreaking. Dead Set features a zombie outbreak happening during the filming of the British reality TV show Big Brother, where a group of strangers are confined to live together.
The show Big Brother is a clever satire. It puts a group of people in isolation and films what happens when their polite social facades crumble. When real-world issues and stress enter the house, and the contestants can’t escape, things really start to explode.
The series Dead Set portrays a zombie apocalypse unfolding on the set of Big Brother, and we experience it through the perspective of Kelly Povell, a contestant played by Jaime Winstone, and her boyfriend, played by Riz Ahmed before he became well-known. Though it’s meant to be a satire, Dead Set still delivers as a classic zombie story, complete with plenty of excitement and gore.
Dead Set Is A Shrewd Satire Of Reality TV
Beyond the scary zombie action, Dead Set cleverly pokes fun at reality television. It’s a brilliant parody of Big Brother, arguably the best since the Christmas special of Extras, and it also offers a wider look at what makes reality TV so popular. By combining the found-footage horror style with the way we watch reality shows, it emphasizes how much we enjoy simply observing other people’s lives.
The popularity of shows like Big Brother, where people are confined together, inspired Charlie Brooker to create Dead Set, which takes that idea to the extreme by placing contestants in a disaster lockdown. While Black Mirror has become hugely popular, Dead Set hasn’t gotten the same renewed attention, despite its commentary on society being even more relevant today with the rise of social media.
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2026-01-25 22:08