E4 orders half-animated computer game comedy from Fresh Meat team
- E4 has ordered six episodes of new comedy Dead Pixel
- Based on Comedy Blap Avatards, it focuses on computer gaming
- The series by Jon Brown will be on air in 2018
E4 has ordered a new comedy series that will be half computer-animated.
Based on the 2016 online Comedy Blap Avatards, Jon Brown is now writing a full series of Dead Pixels, about a group of friends and their obsession with a role-playing computer game.
Brown has previously written for comedies including Loaded and Fresh Meat, and the series will also be executive produced by Fresh Meat and Peep Show creators, Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, through their new production company, Various Artists.
E4 explain: "Dead Pixels centres on mates Meg, Nicky and Usman, whose world revolves around their obsession for the massively popular fantasy RPG [role playing game] Kingdom Scrolls - a mystical, magical and, more importantly, virtual world of wizards and wyverns...
"However in real life Meg and Nicky work in an office. They are not sure what Usman does for a living (though apparently it's also something responsible and probably something involving spreadsheets). But they all have their priorities straight, especially Usman: if Castle Blackfinger needs defending from a bunch of marauding orks then grabbing a decent night's sleep would not only be selfish, it would be downright irresponsible.
"Unless you're Jase, the new guy at Meg's office. It's not that Jase is a bit annoying, it's just he's just a total noob, which makes him incredibly f*cking annoying, except if you're Meg. Meg doesn't fancy Nicky and Nicky DEFINITELY doesn't fancy Meg. That would be a cliché. Nothing will EVER happen between them, not in this world, or in Kingdom Scrolls... Although Meg might fancy Jase, when he's not being annoying - which is most of the time."
Mixing live action and animation, Dead Pixels will split equally between the characters real lives and their online domain inside Kingdom Scrolls.
Fiona McDermott, Head of Comedy at Channel 4, says: "We're next level thrilled - which I think gets me enough experience points to buy an Ork Cudgel - to be working with Jon Brown and Various Artists on this brilliant show. It's a bold, original precinct with a really distinct and funny voice. Moreover, it's another success from the Blaps platform that's been nurtured from online short to full series."
Jon Brown, says "As an adult male who spends his every actual weeknight in Bolivia attempting to disrupt the manufacture and distribution of cocaine (online; on PS4) I feel uniquely placed to write about the manifold joys and sadnesses of the gaming life. It's a pastime unique for being both utterly and literally pointless, but also genuinely and profoundly meaningful. I look forward to sharing my shameful, pathetic virtual experiences with E4 audiences."
The series is due to be broadcast in 2018, with casting and other details revealed in due course.