The Dummies Guide to The Walking Dead
So what's it about? Well somehow people have been turned into Zombies. Sorry I mean 'Walkers' as no-one has mentioned the Z-word in the series. As to how they became Walkers, no-one knows yet.
So are the Zombies, sorry I mean Walkers, like the Olympic-running undead from 28 Days Later or the more 'everyday I'm shuffling' variety from Night of the Living Dead? Pretty much a combo of both. You can learn how to be a Walker here
Who's our hero? Well that would be cop Rick Grimes played by Andrew Lincoln who, after being shot, wakes up in a hospital alone only to find the whole world has gone crazy.
Isn't that a bit like the beginning of 28 Days Later? Sshh.
I hear there is some family drama with Rick? You hear correctly. His wife and son survived the outbreak, as did Rick's cop partner Shane. They all believed Rick was dead so wife and partner became 'intimate'.
Until... well until Rick finds them and so the love triangle is formed. Although Rick is none the wiser at this stage.
The actor playing Rick looks like that guy from that British drama This Life? Well that's cause he is - Andrew Lincoln was Egg. He was also in Love Actually.
And the actress who plays his wife, where have I seen her before? Sarah Wayne Collins played the doctor in Prison Break. She ended up with her head in a box but survived (don't ask - Prison Break had jumped the shark long before this).
So who else has survived the outbreak? Well the survival rate is about as high as on Spartacus but among the gaggle of non-Walkers there is a woman who had to kill her sister after she had been bitten and is not coping with that very well, an abused wife and her daughter (the abusive husband was an entrée in an earlier episode), a wise old hat-wearing pensioner and a cheeky chappie Asian-American who once saved Rick from death.
What's this I hear about a one-handed redneck? Well for reasons far too complicated to go into here, a racist bastard was left handcuffed to the top of a building with Walkers about to descend on him. Rick went back looking for him but the redneck had managed to saw his hand off and escape. No doubt he will appear in a later episode but his brother Daryl is also one of the survivors in Rick's gang.
So what can we expect in season 2? Well the
opening episode sets things up nicely. One member of the group goes
missing, there is a shock shooting and expect the love triangle to
all turn quite messy. Oh and a lot of blood and guts as well.
The new series of The Walking Dead begins on Wednesday
February 8 at 9pm on TV2
