News

Back in 2019, it was announced that Ben Wheatley would be writing, directing, and executive producing Generation Z, a “hilarious, frightening, and political” series that would consist of six hour-long episodes that would “mix flesh-eating zombies into a story that satirizes how Brexit has divided the UK.” That project didn’t make it into production when it was originally supposed to because of the pandemic shutdown… but after making Meg 2: The Trench (you can read our review at This Link and check out our interview with the filmmaker Here), Wheatley circled back around to Generation Z. The show started airing on Channel 4 last October… and now, it has been confirmed that it will not get a second season.

Deadline broke the news that Generation Z has been axed because, while the network was “understood to have had high hopes for the show and it was touted at the Edinburgh TV Festival,...

Kill List Ben Wheatley returns to the small screen this month with Channel 4 zombie comedy series, Generation Z. Here’s a trailer:

Kill List director Ben Wheatley is about to television with this autumn’s Generation Z, which Wheatley has written and directed for Channel 4.

According to the British Comedy Guide, the series is a horror satire which pits a group of small-town teenagers (the gen-z of the title) against a horde of toxin-infected, rabid pensioners. It’s a little bit like Rabid Grannies, then, but with a distinctly political, post-austerity, post hope-for-the-future spin.

As the synopsis points out, it’s about “the increasingly stark divisions between generations,” and depicts “a modern Britain at war with itself. Sounds good!

The cast is itself a platter of multi-generational comedy talent. Elder states-people of telly Sue Johnston (The Royle Family), Anita Dobson (EastEnders) and Robert Lindsay (Citizen Smith) are joined by...

Five years ago, it was announced that Ben Wheatley would be writing, directing, and executive producing Generation Z, a “hilarious, frightening, and political” series that would consist of six hour-long episodes that would “mix flesh-eating zombies into a story that satirizes how Brexit has divided the UK.” That project didn’t make it into production when it was originally supposed to because of the pandemic shutdown… but after making Meg 2: The Trench (you can read our review at This Link and check out our interview with the filmmaker Here), Wheatley circled back around to Generation Z. The show is now ready to start airing on Channel 4 in October, and in anticipation of the premiere, Empire has unveiled two new images. One can be seen above, and the other can be found at the bottom of this article.

The show is described as “a coming-of-age parable for our very...

Mark Gatiss will co-write and star in Bookish, a crime drama for Alibi, and here are the details of the new show.

It’s been several years since the last project by The League Of Gentlemen, and there is as of yet so sign of any further adventures for Sherlock. However, in the intervening years, Mark Gatiss has kept himself busy with a number of projects, from his annual Mr James Ghost Story For Christmas films, collaborating with Steven Moffat again on Dracula and directing Moffat’s debut play The Unfriend.

His next television project will be Bookish, a crime drama for Alibi he wrote with Matthew Sweet.

The synopsis reads as follows:

London, 1946 is the dynamic, dangerous and chaotic setting for this stylish new detective drama, with the eccentric Gabriel Book (Gatiss) at the very heart of the story: a self-appointed consultant detective to the local police. The thousands...

Exclusive: Sherlock star Mark Gatiss is writing and starring in a British TV drama about a bookshop owner who helps police solve crimes.

Bookish will be a six-part series for UKTV crime drama network Alibi set in post-war London in 1946. Gatiss, the co-creator of BBC shows such as Sherlock and The League of Gentlemen and Netflix/BBC’s Dracula and actor in films including Operation Mincemeat and Mission Impossible — Dead Reckoning, is the creator.

The series will follow Gabriel Book (Gatiss), an “erudite and unconventional” sleuth who cracks mysterious cases from his antiquated bookshop, using the thousands of books that line his shelves to provide him with the knowledge that he needs. Around him are a gathering of “loveable, damaged misfits who he informally protects, cajoles and mentors.”

Starring alongside Gatiss is Polly Walker (Bridgerton, Line of Duty), who plays Book’s colourful wife Trottie. She is charismatic and adventurous,...

Four years ago, it was announced that Ben Wheatley would be writing, directing, and executive producing Generation Z, a “hilarious, frightening, and political” series that would consist of six hour-long episodes that would “mix flesh-eating zombies into a story that satirizes how Brexit has divided the UK.” That project didn’t make it into production when it was originally supposed to because of the pandemic shutdown… but after making his latest film Meg 2: The Trench (you can read our review at This Link and check out our interview with the filmmaker Here), Wheatley has circled back around to Generation Z and is now knee-deep into filming it! To celebrate the fact that Generation Z is finally being made, Channel 4 has unveiled a batch of first look images, and you can check those out at the bottom of this article.

The show is described as “a coming-of-age parable for...

Kill List, Free Fire, and High-Rise director Ben Wheatley announced plans for the Brexit zombie series “Generation Z” for UK’s Channel 4 back in 2019. UK broadcaster Channel 4 has unveiled first look images at the six-part series, along with its cast.

Channel 4 describes the series as a “coming-of-age parable for our very strange times – cut with a heavy dose of outlandish gore.” Check out the first look images below.

The plot for the six-part series: “In a small British town, tensions come to a head when a mysterious military convoy crashes outside the Sunnywise Retirement Home. The vehicles were carrying a toxic substance, which, as a result of the crash, leaks into the local environment and infects the residents of the retirement community. The symptoms of this infection quickly manifest – an overwhelming appetite for raw flesh. They’re old, they’re angry and they’re on the rampage. As the...

Ben Wheatley’s zombie series Generation Z is building its bite.

UK broadcaster Channel 4 has unveiled a first look at the six-part series, which is currently being filmed in Wales by The Forge, the outfit that produced Help and Roadkill.

Generation Z, Wheatley’s first TV series, boasts a cast including Robert Lindsay (Wimbledon), Sue Johnston (Downton Abbey), and Anita Dobson (Call The Midwife).

The series centers on the fictional town of Dambury, where a chemical leak outside a care home starts an apocalypse led by old-aged pensioners hungry for human flesh.

A group of teenagers are caught up in the virus when one of the gang’s grandmothers becomes infected and attacks her.

Here’s the logline: “Generation Z is about intergenerational justice and community breakdown that boldly satirizes a world where truth is stranger than fiction, exploring not just the political fault lines in our society but...

Distribution

Beyond Rights has kept the momentum going in distributing the popular property show “Love It or List It,” announcing two new versions being produced in Finland and France. In France, M6 licensed the format and is now in pre-production on its own version, while Finland’s Rabbit Films is producing an initial 10-episode run for broadcaster Nelonen, set to premiere Aug. 26. The Scandinavian broadcaster also scooped season four of “Love It or List It: Australia” and “Love It or List It: Brilliant Builds.” Beyond Rights also closed deals on more than 1000 hours of “Love it or List It” franchise programming in the UK (Channel 4), Norway (TV2), Netherlands (Talpa TV), Turkey (Discovery), Portugal (Sic), Spain (Mediaset), Poland, New Zealand (Discovery), Australia (Foxtel) and Latin America (Discovery).

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Dubai-based distribution and production company SynProNize has picked up a pair of Arabic drama series, “Beirut Bride” and “Al Nihaya,” and will distribute...

Exclusive: ITV’s adaptation of Louise Candlish’s Sunday Times best-selling real-estate novel Our House has cast Martin Compston (Line Of Duty), Tuppence Middleton (Downton Abbey), and Rupert Penry-Jones (The Drowning) in headline roles.

Our House tells the four-part story of Fi Lawson (Middleton), who arrives home one day to find a family of strangers moving into her house and her husband, Bram (Compston), has disappeared. As the nightmare takes grip, both Bram and Fi try to make sense of the events that led to a devastating crime and how they each are going to survive the chilling truth.

Produced by Death In Paradise outfit Red Planet Pictures, Penry-Jones features as the enigmatic Toby, who is in a relationship with Fi. Buket Komur (Honour) plays Bram’s new partner, the mysterious and alluring Wendy. Also joining the cast is Weruche Opia, who broke out in Emmy-nominated BBC/HBO series I May Destroy You,...

Bankside will introduce the project to buyers at EFM.

Tuppence Middleton, Max Harwood and Thomas Turgoose will lead the cast of Dean Puckett’s Magpie, a UK title developed by Bankside Films.

Bankside Films has boarded sales on the project, having taken over development through its in-house development slate after the film was initially selected for Creative England’s iFeatures scheme in 2018. Bankside will present to buyers at next week’s online European Film Market.

Puckett’s fiction feature directorial debut is an evolution of his 2018 short The Sermon.

It follows an eponymous character, who lives in an isolated church...

Bankside will introduce the project to buyers at EFM.

Tuppence Middleton, Max Harwood and Thomas Turgoose will lead the cast of Dean Puckett’s Magpie, a UK title developed through Creative England’s low-budget iFeatures scheme.

Bankside Films has boarded sales on the project, having provided further development beyond iFeatures through its in-house development slate. It will present to buyers at next week’s online European Film Market.

Puckett’s fiction feature directorial debut is an evolution of his 2018 short The Sermon.

It follows an eponymous character, who lives in an isolated church community ruled over by her father The Pastor.