Be afraid, be very AFRAID!

ANITA DOBSON, ROBERT LINDSAY and SUE JOHNSTON on playing pensioners with an appetite for destruction

- ELAINE REILLY

GENERATION Z NEW SUNDAY & MONDAY, 9PM, C4 COMEDY DRAMA (BOX SET, CHANNEL 4)

Warning: you may never look at Anita Dobson or Sue Johnston in the same way again if you dare to watch C4’s gory new comedy-horror epic Generation Z…

The star-studded six-part satire sees acting legends Anita (EastEnders, Doctor Who) and Sue (Brookside, The Royle Family) undergo terrifying makeovers as their characters, pensioners Janine and Cecily, transform into bloodthirsty hunters!

Written and directed by British filmmaker Ben Wheatley, the scary story was filmed on location in Wales and is set in fictional Dambury, a quiet town plunged into chaos after an Army convoy overturns near a care home and causes a chemical leak that appears to have given the older residents a deadly appetite.

But does Cecily’s ex, conspiracy theorist Morgan (Sherwood star Robert Lindsay), know more about the sinister goings-on than he’d care to admit?

TV Times bravely caught up with the always-wonderful Anita, 75, Sue, 80, and Robert, 74, to talk all things supernatural…

This is a very different project for you all! What appealed to you about it?

ANITA I’ve never done anything like this before and I just thought, ‘I should give everything a go now.’

SUE I’m the same as Anita – I’ve never done anything like this and it was great fun!

ROBERT It really was! I didn’t know Ben Wheatley’s work, but my kids did and they all said I had to work with him. He’s incredible and his satire of life under the threat of a virus has ghoulishly funny moments.

So, where do we find your characters as the tale begins?