‘In the Flesh’: A Zombie Show That Rarely Shows Zombies

In the Flesh is a zombie show that spends almost no time showing zombies. Created by Dominic Mitchell, it airs on BBC Three and ran for two seasons, nine episodes in total. The premise is simple: a cure exists for the undead, but society isn’t sure it wants the cured back. The show follows Kieren Walker, played by Luke Newberry, as he returns to his hometown of Roarton after being rehabilitated from his rabid state.

Trailer, via BBC.

Kieren Walker and the Town of Roarton

Kieren is the anchor of the series. He’s a young man who was reanimated as a mindless zombie during the Rising, a global outbreak of the undead in 2009. The show is set in 2010, a few years after the event, and Kieren has been cured, restored to consciousness, and sent back to his family home. His parents, Sue and Steve Walker, played by Marie Critchley and Steve Cooper, are struggling to accept him back.

The town of Roarton is central to the show’s tension. It’s a small Lancashire village, though the show was filmed in Marsden, West Yorkshire. The residents are wary of the returned dead, and Kieren faces constant suspicion and prejudice. The show doesn’t hide the hostility. It’s a slow burn of micro-aggressions and whispered rumors, not a sudden outbreak of violence.

The Cure and Its Side Effects

The scientific solution to the zombie problem is a medication that restores consciousness to the undead. The show calls this Partially Deceased Syndrome, or PDS. The cured zombies are forced to take regular injections to prevent relapse into a rabid state. They’re also given contact lenses and cosmetics to mask their deceased appearance.

The side effects are the real horror. Kieren suffers from vivid flashbacks to the atrocities he committed while rabid. He sees himself killing people, eating flesh, and generally behaving like the monster everyone fears he is. These memories drive him to the edge of sanity. The show handles this internal conflict with a mix of psychological drama and physical horror, but the emphasis is always on the emotional toll.

Amy Dyer and Simon Monroe

Emily Bevan plays Amy Dyer, a PDS sufferer who died of leukaemia at age 21. She meets Kieren and becomes his friend, arguing that their condition is a blessing. Her optimism contrasts sharply with Kieren’s guilt. Their relationship is the emotional core of the show, a friendship built on mutual understanding rather than romance.

Simon Monroe, played by Emmett J. Scanlan, is a more complicated figure. He’s a charismatic man with links to the Undead Liberation Army, a group fighting for the rights of the returned dead. He’s also one of the twelve disciples of the mysterious Undead Prophet. As the series progresses, he becomes Kieren’s romantic interest, which adds another layer of tension to an already fraught situation.

The Militia and the Council

The local militia, the Human Volunteer Force, or HVF, patrols Roarton and hunts the re-animated. Jem Walker, Kieren’s sister, played by Harriet Cains, is a member of the unit. The show treats the militia with a degree of ambivalence. They’re the protectors, but they’re also the enforcers of the social order that rejects the returned dead.

Philip Wilson, a village councillor played by Stephen Thompson, gets into trouble when he announces his romantic affection for certain PDS sufferers. The show uses his storyline to explore the hypocrisy of a community that claims to care about the dead while rejecting them in practice. It’s a sharp commentary on prejudice, delivered through the mundane mechanics of a council meeting.

The Final Season and Its Legacy

The second series, consisting of six episodes, began airing in the UK on 4 May 2014 and in the US on 10 May 2014 on BBC America. The last aired date was 8 June 2014. In January 2015, BBC Three announced that the show would not be renewed for a third series due to cuts to its budget for its final year as a linear channel.

The cancellation left the story unfinished. Kieren’s fate remains unresolved, and the show’s ending is deliberately open-ended. That ambiguity has kept viewers curious about what might have happened if there had been a third season.

Comparing the Two Seasons

The first season established the world and introduced the characters. The second season expanded the scope, bringing in national politics and broader social movements. Both seasons share the same central question: can a zombie be rehabilitated into human society?

In the Flesh is a quiet show in a loud genre. It’s not interested in explosions or gore. It’s interested in prejudice, memory, and the difficulty of starting over. The writing is sharp, the performances are strong, and the show’s refusal to sentimentalize its subject is refreshing. It’s a show about monsters that aren’t monstrous, and about people who are.

The show isn’t perfect. Some of the supporting characters feel underdeveloped, and the pacing can drag in the middle of the second season. But the central relationship between Kieren and Amy, and the tension between Kieren and his community, is compelling enough to carry the whole thing.

This is a show that deserves more attention than it got. It’s a thoughtful, well-made drama that happens to be about zombies. It’s a shame it didn’t get a third season, because the story wasn’t finished. But what we have is solid: a smart, humane look at a post-apocalyptic world that has moved beyond the outbreak and into the harder work of forgiveness.

BBC · drama · rehabilitation · TV Review · Zombie