Generation Z: Sue Johnston is the greatest zombie to grace our screens in decades

When an army van full of toxins crashes into a care home, all the boomers become biters – and it’s kids’ blood they’re after. The undead are back, baby!

There was a sustained moment throughout the aughts where you couldn’t move for zombies. Perhaps it started with 2002’s 28 Days Later – little Cillian Murphy wandering dazed around a desolate Westminster! – but there were other takes on the shambling undead every couple of years: 2004’s Shaun of the Dead, 2008’s Dead Set, the novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies in 2009, Left 4 Dead 2. Zombies quietened down a bit with the advent of 2010’s The Walking Dead – a franchise that, ironically, refuses to die and keeps shuffling forward while making a low rustling sound – and we got into other things instead: Westworld’s robots with souls, The Last of Us’s mushroom monsters, every goth thing Game of Thrones could throw at us. The point is: sometimes zombies are popular, sometimes zombies go away.

Zombies are popular, again. There have been rumbles for a while – Danny Boyle’s 2025 sequel, 28 Years Later, looms; indie sleaze is back; and there are a load of new Walking Dead spin-offs creaking onwards for people who collect Funko Pops to watch – but the real proof that zombies are back is that Channel 4 are making an interesting and writer-led take on the beasts. The take is Generation Z (Sunday 27 October, 9pm), the writer is Ben Wheatley, and I am delighted to say that Sue Johnston is one of the primary zombies. That rustling sound is me rubbing my hands together with glee.

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Generation Z: Sue Johnston is the greatest zombie to grace our screens in decades

Topics

Related

Washington Post endorsement debacle exposes our ‘zombie elites’

Does Gen Z have it tougher than previous generations?

Jay-Z's Team Roc sues Kansas city for records related to alleged police misconduct

Turns out the zombie apocalypse isn’t as fun as they said it would be – Rebecca Solnit on our dangerously disconnected world

Harris says election will "decide fate of our nation for generations to come"

Texas attorney general sues second doctor under state's gender-affirming care ban

‘Israel is trying to erase our presence’: Palestinians say ‘generals’ plan’ to clear north Gaza is under way

Obamas congratulate Trump, urge 'good faith and grace'

Forget Screen Time. We Need to Talk About Screen Real Estate

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