It's the actor Kevin Eldon...

So I was sitting, ready to watch new mini-series Dead Set in E4 mainly because it was written by Charlie Brooker, he of Guardian writing and of Screen Wipe presenting. So basically its a horror series where a zombie plague erupts and infects those working on a Big Brother. Therefore I thought to produce a feeling of authenticity I would see a group of unknowns shouting or something big brother related sitting in a house a la Big Brother.

But who is first on screen but The Actor Kevin Eldon, forever known as The Actor Kevin Eldon after his work on This Morning with Richard not Judy in the mid-nineties. I'm taken out of the whole fake Big Brother and watching people playing at Big Brother. This has somehow lessened my interest. If they were unknowns I guess I could root for a fictional winner, or relate more to a character or something, but with The Actor Kevin Eldon in there pretending to be a slightly quirky guy, I just think what's the point.

The problem I have is I don't like Big Brother anyway, so seeing Davina McCall being eaten by a zombie seems like a small victory rather than a knowing wink to the audience. A better idea for this show would actually have done a regular Big Brother series and then pretended a Zombie infection was going on outside. Played it for real from the beginning. Ghost Watch style. I think this would work a lot better in the long run, rather than turning into Big Brother: The Movie or something.

Maybe I'm focussing on the wrong aspect here. It's good that an original horror series has been made, and it is just about watchable. But again I think people in suits have ruined what could have been great.

I'll still watch the rest of the series though. Maybe even grow to like it.

Next time I'll talk about writing or something. This blog has slowly turned into a "What Really Grinds My Gears" blog. And I never wanted it to go that way. At least not exclusively.