Dwardus Prime Entertainment Blog» zombies

Damn good television

Dwardus — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 19:51:53 +0000

The BBC are showing some really good stuff right now. If you can, you should try to catch the following on a box near you!

Outnumbered

Perfectly-paced comedy with an exceptional cast. Brill concept, brill kids, brill adults, brill situations, brill lines. Watch it. Tragically this’ll probably get less recognition than the abominable “My Family” which somehow swept up a bunch of awards for being unadulterated cack. Anyone who has a) a family and/or b) is a human being will probably enjoy this.

Lead Balloon

Another brilliant comedy, Lead Balloon is back and better than ever. Join Jack Dee as Rick Spleen and a handful of other notably quirky characters like Magda and Sam, Spleen’s uselessly endearing daughter. It’s hard not to love Dee’s deadpan and thoroughly miserable trudge through each episode. Glorious.

Screenwipe

Now in its forth series, Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe is a breath of fresh air in a world whose media (and a world whose world) is clearly bonkers. It’s nice to see someone running against the dumb tide of overly-PC, jobsworthy cretins who earn a bundle while we sit and wonder where it all went wrong.

Survivors

I’ve only seen the first episode so far and it played out like 28 Days Later the series, but without the zombies. Still, I had a blast. It was either that or Heartbeat and the concept is brilliant. What would you do you if you survived a terrible pandemic? trash a supermarket, if the trailer for episode 2 is anything to go by.

Here, have a nice bit of Ash:

I’m Dead Set

Dwardus — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 07:27:54 +0000

If you haven’t heard, Dead Set is the new five-part Charlie Brooker (Screenwipe) series about Big Brother contenstants under siege in the BB House. Apparently it will be scary with some laughs, but different from Shaun of the Dead (which is good, even though that’s one of my favourite films). Expect blood, gore and (knowing Big Brother) the gormless. Oh, and an undead Davina McCall as well!

Dead Set chomps it’s way onto E4 on October 27. Check out the website here.

Love in the Time of Zombies and other stories

Dwardus — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:15:53 +0000

I mention in the title up at the top of the page that this blog features writing. Up until this point that has been a massive fib – all I’ve really done is talk about cinema and music. I am doing a fair bit of writing when I’m not 9-5ing though, honest!

Recently I’ve been writing short stories, aiming to have them published in magazines. Hopefully I’ll crack it and this’ll add a bit more weight to my writing CV. Maybe I’ll be able to put a story or two on the site then, but we shall have to see. So far I have two short stories, one is a fantasy/fiction piece concerning time travel and another which is a claustrophobic sci-fi tale. I have quite a few ideas which I hope will flourish into more short stories. I’d like to get to the stage where I have an army of these which I can use as ammunition whenever someone shows interest in my writing and asks to see some.

I’m really enjoying writing these. It helps me to focus on words and sentences, to keep everything tight, to (try to) tell a coherent story in a short space of time and to watch the word count. I’d advise anyone who likes writing and is looking to be published to give it a try. Also, on weekday mornings when I’m fresh (knackered & grumpy) I can edit a printed copy and check it for flow/spelling etc.

Whether I’ll continue with these one-a-week short stories remains to be seen, as I am starting to get into writing my new book, but I’ll update here with any developments. Until then, if you’re a writer – happy writing!