Channel 4 has axed Ben Wheately’s zombie comedy horror Generation Z after one season.
The network is understood to have had high hopes for the show and it was touted at the Edinburgh TV Festival, but it garnered middling reviews and failed to break out.
Starring British heavyweights like Sue Johnston and Robert Lindsay and produced by The Forge, the comedy horror started with an army truck overturning outside a care home in the fictional town of Dambury. The subsequent chemical leak seems to turn the old residents into zombies, who attack younger people from the town. Intended as something of a rumination on modern times, Channel 4 had described Generation Z as “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 also the very real issues facing teenagers today.”
Channel 4 content boss Ian Katz showed a preview at Edinburgh and talked up the series, but it won’t reach Season 2. Channel 4 has been rejigging comedy strategy, most recently ordering an A24 series from Leo Reich as heavyweight Big Boys draws to a conclusion, with a new slate expected in the coming weeks.
Generation Z came from Wheatley, the multiple BIFA-nominated British director who has mainly been behind movies like Free Fire, Rebecca, High-Rise and Meg 2: The Trench. On TV he has directed episodes of Doctor Who and Strange Angel. Generation Z was his first TV writing project since 2008 BBC sketch series The Wrong Door.
A Channel 4 spokeswoman said: “We’re very proud of Generation Z and would like to thank Ben Wheatley, The Forge and the wonderful cast and crew involved in the show’s success. We look forward to working together on future Channel 4 projects.”
The Sun was first with the news.
