In The Flesh is set in a small village in the North of England, post-zombie uprising, as rehabilitated zombies begin to be reintroduced back into society. Now known as PDS Sufferers (Partially Deceased Syndrome), these former zombies have been caught, treated and, armed with their flesh cover-up and special contact lenses are now returning to their friends and families who previously thought them dead.

Our hero is called Kieren Walker, a 17 year old who committed suicide four years’ ago when his best mate Rick died in Afghanistan. He didn’t leave a note, and is now returning to a village that always rejected him and a family who never got to say goodbye.

Across the three episodes, we follow Kieren as he struggles to cope with fitting back in, with the guilt of what he did in his untreated state, and the sudden reappearance of Rick, a fellow PDS Sufferer. The boy that Kieren thought was dead is alive and the boy Rick thought was alive is dead. Can they be happy a second time round? Can Kieren finally make peace with both his past and his present?  Can humans and PDS sufferers live side by side in this new highly charged and emotionally complicated world?

In The Flesh is a 3×60-minute event drama by new writer Dominic Mitchell. This is his first TV commission and was developed by the BBC Drama Production team in Salford after they read the submissions for ‘Northern Voices’, a BBC Writersroom competition.

It will be directed by Jonny Campbell (Eric And Ernie, Doctor Who) and produced by Annie Harrison Baxter (The Secret Of Crickley Hall, Treasure Island). Casting is underway and the show will go into production in the autumn.