Saturday 12 July 2008

Moving Wallpaper; Shuffling Zombies

Saturday 12 July 2008

God bless ITV for trying something different, but the symbiotic Echo Beach/Moving Wallpaper was a bit of a fiasco. Cornish soap "parody" Echo Beach was panned by critics, suffered from poor ratings, and has been officially axed. But companion show Moving Wallpaper, the "mockumentary" about the behind-the-scenes creation of Beach, is definitely returning.

Ben Miller, who plays Wallpaper's egomaniac producer Jonathan Pope, has revealed the plans for the sitcom:

"We're coming back, although it's not about a soap opera. We're not going to be making Echo Beach any more. We're making a zombie show, a 28 Days Later-style pilot, so that's going to be quite fun."

It certainly sounds more interesting, but that's coming from a horror fan. Will traditional ITV audiences be tuning in? Will the horror angle draw in a different crowd for the channel? Zombies are inherently funnier than Martine McCutcheon and Jason Donovan, so it sounds promising. Expect lots of corn syrup.

Filming begins in August for early-'09 broadcast.