Generation Z review: Channel 4's zombie satire is overcooked when all you want is a bit more raw meat

All of which brings the new zombie-satire Generation Z (Channel 4, Sun/Mon, 9pm) into quite sharp relief.

The only problem is that the Mitchell and Webb Nazis sketch – you know, the “are we the baddies?” one – kept running through my head.

That's because the middle-aged in Ben Wheatley's generational apocalypse are resentful of both their parents and their children.

They denigrate the younger ones for their obsession with computer games, their shiftlessness and their lack or worldly skills, while they silently seethe as they see the older generation head off on yet another holiday, put their jobs at risk by voting for Brexit and hang around the house doing nothing but criticise.

Meanwhile, they lack the gumption to change anything; the imagination to expect better for their children; and the patience to care for their parents.

All of which is set against the backdrop of a fairly conventional zombie drama.

In short, the Army is transporting a mysterious toxin when a blown tyre results in a crash and what turns out the be fairly disastrous leak outside the fictional town of Dambury.

The resulting chemical cloud drifts over the town, turning the older generation into sort-of-zombies – hungry for raw meat, preferably human, yet still sentient enough to realise they have been given a new burst of energy.

“I've been treated very unfairly,” says Janine (Anita Dobson) to her grand-daughter Kelly. “Why shouldn't I have what I want?”

And so these zombies of the third age rampage around the town, eating brains and infecting people, rooting through bins an having al fresco sex.

Meanwhile, the Government is trying to cover everything up, and the younger generation are realising their parents may not protect them and they'll have to take on the zombies themselves.

Director and creator Wheatley has a track record for mixing tongue-in-cheek violence with social satire and a lot of weirdness, so he knows how to handle this kind of stuff.

And it is gory, but there is certain glee in some of the setpieces, whether it's dog who comes to a very unfortunate end or an extended domestic scrap in which Dobson somersaults through windows and across sofas.

The first episode is full of seconds-long scenes, convulsing and jerking about the plot like a reanimated corpse, and the dialogue – particularly among the younger characters, would belong more in Hollyoaks than a blistering social satire.

And the satire – each generation feeding on the next while at the same time feeling like they got the worse end of the deal – is not exactly subtle.

“She's in there like the Queen,” fumes Janine's daughter-in-law to her husband. “That lot had the best this country had to offer and they f***ed it. Cradle to grave.”

All the while, the OAP zombies believe they've been sidelined, ignored and marginalised by a culture they don't understand and are determined to 'take back control'.

It's got a great cast – Johnny Vegas, Sue Johnston, T'Nia Miller and Downton Abbey's Rob-James Collier all appear – while everyone seems to be having a lot of fun, even while eating badgers or shooting elderly people with crossbows.

Because those middle-aged characters are such wet lettuces, however, the 50-year-old viewer – I'm talking about me here – might not have such a good time.

After all, who wants a wet lettuce in their sandwich?