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Shaun
Shaun
Played By: Simon Pegg
"How's that for a slice of fried gold?"
A 29-year-old slacker who works as an electronics shop salesman. He lacks direction in his life, is mired in his boring routines, his colleagues shows him no respect, and he has a strained relationship with both his girlfriend Liz and his stepdad Philip. He spends most of his free time playing video games and getting drunk with his best friend Ed, who's an even bigger loser than he is, as well as dealing with shuffling, braindead consumers. Then the zombies attack.
- Action Survivor: Despite being a typical, unhealthy layabout, he still manages to survive the film.
- Affectionate Nickname: His mother calls him "Pickle".
- AM/FM Characterization: He and Ed drunkenly sing Duran Duran's "White Lines" and his vinyl records include New Order (he gets upset that an original pressing of "Blue Monday" gets chucked), Dire Straits (Brothers in Arms gets chucked), Prince (he keeps Purple Rain and Sign o' the Times, but chucks Batman (1989)) and The Stone Roses (he keeps both their albums, even defending The Second Coming).
- The Apocalypse Brings Out the Best in People: The point of the movie. Helps that he started sorting his life out right when it started.
- Apologetic Attacker:
- Played for Laughs when he imagines how he'd deal with Philip ("Sorry, Philip").
- Played for Drama when he's forced to shoot Barbara for real.
- Apologizes a Lot: He's given out a lot of apologies to Liz, which she became fed up with.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: As a salesman for a tech shop, Shaun is the tech-savviest person in the group. As soon as he sees the streetlights come back on, he quickly deduces that the electrical grid is still working and that the Winchester is only out of power due to circuit breakers. He then proceeds to effortlessly restore electricity to the bar without turning on the bright Neon signs, which he correctly guesses are on a separate power grid. Unfortunately for the gang, David doesn't share his savviness.
- Bad Liar: He can't lie to save his life.
- Batter Up!: He uses a cricket bat until he loses it before the group arrive at Winchester.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He's a decent guy but he does have limits. He eventually loses his cool with Ed after the latter takes advantage of him one too many times. Also, he decks David after insulting his mother and shoots a zombified Pete when he attacks Ed.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Uses Ed's "two seconds" before visiting his zombie in the shed.
- Break the Cutie: Goes through this a lot in the movie, but he truly breaks after Ed is bitten by Pete.Shaun: Hey, Pete! I SAID LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!
- Butt-Monkey: Shaun is a Loser Protagonist in almost every sense of the word and doesn't get much respect from others. He also ends up getting a throwing dart in his head by accident during a fight.
- Combat Pragmatist: He uses whatever is available, be it a cricket bat, pool cue, or jukebox.
- Creature of Habit: Fitting with his laziness and lack of ambition, Shaun is defined by his routines, hanging out with the same friends he's had for years and going to the same pub almost every night and and is averse to trying anything new.
- Deadpan Snarker: Usually when confronted by Ed's stupidity or David's abrasiveness.
- Due to the Dead: Has an emotional breakdown after Philip and Barbara are zombified, demanding respect for them and their memory.
- Fiery Redhead: The redhead of the group and the one readier to spring into action.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Ed.David: Well, I wasn't the one who was blowing our cover by having a tiff with my boyfriend.
Shaun: He's not my boyfriend!
Ed: (handing him a beer) It might be a bit warm, the cooler's off.
Shaun: Thanks, babe. - The Hero: Notably, every scene in the entire film (with just one exception) is centered around him.
- Iconic Outfit: He notably wears the same outfit of a white shirt (which steadily becomes covered in "red") and red tie throughout the whole movie, which was an intentional design decision to help him stand out and to give people an easy Halloween costume.
- Improbable Weapon User: A cricket bat.
- Insistent Terminology: For at least half of the film he refuses to call Phillip his dad and insists that Phillip is his step-dad. This is played more comically to show Shaun is still a bit of a child, making this distinction in situations where it frankly doesn't matter. These include when he went to his mum's house to get her and at work when his coworker asked why is Shaun allowed to speak to his dad at work when Shaun emphasized it isn't a social gathering.
- It's All My Fault: In the cellar, he blames himself for his friends' deaths, which he attributes to his decision to go to the Winchester rather than stay at Liz's apartment (never mind that he only did this because Ed insisted).
- Jerkass Ball: Deciding to play loud techno music at 4 in the morning, while Pete is trying to get to sleep, not caring that it's going to disturb him, was a pretty dickish and inconsiderate thing to do.
- The Leader: For all his flaws, Shaun turns out to be a capable leader of his fellow survivors during the apocalypse and comes up with all of the plans. Many of his plans aren't that logical or successful in execution, but everyone except Dave comes to respect him for at least trying to do something.
- Loser Protagonist: He's a bit of a slacker, is in a rocky relationship with his girlfriend (entirely due to his own fault), and is stuck in a dead-end job where none of the younger employees have any respect for him. But at least he's not as much of a loser as Ed.
- Manchild: Downplayed compared to Ed and David, but Shaun's irresponsibility and lack of ambition are his fatal flaws. He gets his act together as the film progresses.
- Momma's Boy: Shaun is very close to his mother, and is devastated once she dies and he's forced to shoot her when she turns.
- Nice Guy: He's a bit lazy and irresponsible at the start of the film, but otherwise decent and he makes an honest effort to be better.
- No Full Name Given: The only reference to Shaun having a surname is a poster on his bedroom wall for an old DJ gig that calls him "Shaun Smiley Riley".
- Not Using the "Z" Word: In a parody of the trope, he is reluctant to use the word zombie and protests when Ed and David use it.
- Rage Breaking Point: After sticking his neck out for Ed for the entire movie, Shaun is understandably pissed off when he threatens the entire group's safety by answering his cell phone in front of a zombie horde, leading into a big "The Reason You Suck" Speech.Shaun: I've spent my entire life sticking my neck out for you, and all you ever do is fuck things up! Fuck things up and make me look stupid! Well, I'm not gonna let you do that, anymore! Not today!
- Refuse to Rescue the Disliked: Pointedly averted; Despite David being a colossal Jerkass to him and everyone else throughout the story, Shaun proves himself the bigger person when he tries to save David from being Devoured by the Horde. He failed, but still gets points for trying.
- Self-Serving Memory: He remembers how Philip chased him around the garden with a bit of wood for simply leaving a Mars Bar in the glove compartment of his Jaguar. Barbara sets him straight, revealing that it was actually because Shaun called Philip something incredibly rude (admittedly still troubling, but a little more understandable).
- Staking the Loved One: He ends up having to shoot his recently-turned mother, and he dreads the possibility of having to do the same with his girlfriend and infected best friend when they are trapped in the Winchester with no way out.
- Straight Man: Despite his quirks, he is the straighter and more level-headed of the Shaun-Ed duo.
- Took a Level in Badass: Starts off as a bumbling slacker. Becomes a zombie slaying badass.
- Trauma Conga Line: His step-father dies after reconciling with him, is forced to shoot his mother, and then his best friend gets bitten by Pete.
- You're Not My Father: He keeps telling people Philip isn't his dad, but his step-dad. He finally acknowledges him as his father after Philip's Dying Declaration of Love.
- Zombie Apocalypse Hero: Shaun who starts off as a Loser Protagonist ends up transitioning into a badass zombie-slaying Action Survivor over the course of the film.
Ed
Ed
Played By: Nick Frost
"Who died and made you fucking king of the zombies?"
Shaun's housemate and best friend. He is an unemployed slob and part-time drug dealer who has even less direction in life than Shaun.
- Accomplice by Inaction: Shaun is pissed with him and David for just standing by watching him fight a Z-Word with Liz and Dianne while he's just texting.
- Action Survivor: Until he gets bitten in the Winchester.
- Animal Motifs: He's often compared to a monkey due to his immaturity and low intelligence, he's also known for making impressions of monkeys.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: He's bitten during the pub fight and reanimates during the ending of the movie. Shaun found him and convinced the military to spare him so he can live in the shed.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When David starts whining, he delivers a simple one.David: I trust Shaun has another genius scheme up his sleeve.
Liz: This is hardly constructive, David!
David: No, Lizzie, this is a waste of time, we should've stayed at the flat!
Ed: Yeah, well why didn't you?
David: Because... because... Because of... Captain Wow. - Awesome, but Impractical: He does a lot of stuff for Rule of Cool (Like stopping the Jaguar by doing a lot of donuts). That said it's really risky (Like crashing Pete's car so he could drive said Jaguar). During the Winchester siege, he tries to advocate using Molotov Cocktails to take care of the zombies, only for Shaun to tell him that using those could light the whole pub up. He decides to use them anyways once the zombies start breaching through en masse, but he gets stopped by zombies before he can throw them.
- Big Fun: Quite chubby. Also very funny when he's not irritating people or deliberately being The Load.
- Blood Knight: After everything goes to pot, he starts having fun in a world without rules.
- Chaotic Stupid: He's a part-time drug dealer with a clear lack of common sense.
- When he and Shaun are scolded by Pete for making noise at 4am on Monday, Ed acts like if Pete is only being a nuisance, and even insults him back while its obvious how Pete is totally right.
- When Ed almost get himself killed along with his friends by speaking to the phone and thus allowing the zombies to spot them, Shaun yells at him for his stupidity, but Ed seems to not understand what he did wrong and, like with Pete, insults him back like if he just got wronged and is not to blame for the danger he's just exposed them to.
- Just after Shaun and Liz agreed that to survive everyone needs to be quiet, Ed plays at the slot machine, but when he wins and it starts playing music to announce his win, thus warning the zombies again, again Ed rejoices for his win instead to think that, thanks to this, he put everyone in danger again.
- Character Catchphrase: "Two seconds!"
- Also "Cock it!", usually said when annoyed (or when telling Shaun how a rifle works.)
- Chivalrous Pervert: He makes juvenile jokes about Shaun's mother but when David points a gun at Barbara upon discovering a bite wound, he immediately and furiously defends her.Ed: Don't point that gun at Barbara!
- Combat Pragmatist: Not exactly a rule-abiding kind of guy. He's the one who first kills a zombie (with an ashtray), and when everyone's fruitlessly trying to save David from being torn apart, he rushes back to the bar to reload the empty Winchester rifle, having likely (and correctly) written him off as a goner and using him as a distraction.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He is a Fat Slob, but when it comes down to actually killing zombies he proves quite adept. Case in point, he's the first of the heroes to kill a zombie (with an ashtray), fights the zombified bar owner alongside Shaun and Liz, and during the Winchester siege he tries to use a Molotov Cocktail that only fails because he gets grabbed at from behind by zombies busting through the backdoor. According to All There in the Manual, he even managed to kill two zombies with the Winchester rifle's remaining bullets while he was dying from blood loss.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Ed can make a strong case for having the lowest IQ of the cast, but his rebuttals to David's complaints are often on point and leave him spluttering before deflecting blame on Shaun again.
- Fat Slob: He is overweight and very much a layabout.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Roger Ebert put it best in his review:Ebert: When Liz complains that Ed is always around, Shaun says "he doesn't have too many friends," which is often an argument for not becoming one.
- Gasshole: His silent-but-deadly flatulence is a minor Running Gag. "I'm sorry, man."
- Heroic Sacrifice: To allow Liz and Shaun to escape the Winchester's cellar, of the I Will Only Slow You Down variety.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Shaun. While he might be inconsiderate, and more than a bit of an idiot. He proves to be a deeply loyal friend who'll back up Shaun no matter what.
- Improbable Weapon User: He uses a shovel.
- I Will Only Slow You Down: He tells Shaun and Liz to leave him behind after he has been seriously bitten in the neck. Shaun comes back after him after the crisis is over though.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Lazy, annoying and vulgar, but he genuinely cares about Shaun. He's just bad at showing it.
- Lame Comeback: His only response after Pete's "The Reason You Suck" Speech during their final argument is to petulantly mutter that the music they were playing wasn't hip-hop, like Pete called it, but electro. After Pete's left the room.
- The Lancer: Shaun's best friend and his partner during the Zombie Apocalypse.
- Lethally Stupid: It's possible some of the deaths could've been prevented if Ed hadn't insisted on going to the Winchester instead of Liz's apartment. Or crashing a perfectly serviceable car so that he could drive Philip's Jaguar. Or having a conversation with a client on the phone while the group are in the midst of a hoard of zombies. Or playing a noisy fruit-machine while hiding out on the pub.
- Likes Older Women: He seems to have a bit of a crush on Barbara.
- Manchild: He's an overweight slacker who plays video games all day, plays his music too loud in the middle of the night, refuses to clean up after himself, and makes a living selling drugs part-time.
- The Millstone: Outright causes a lot of the group's problems. Deliberately crashes Pete's car so he could drive Phillip's Jag, answering his phone whilst surrounded by zombies... Unlike David, however, he can actually contribute to the group by fighting zombies — except he ends up zombified anyway.
- Noodle Incident: According to Shaun, he shot his sister with an air rifle, the main reason he won't be given the gun. In a deleted scene Liz asks why, here's the answer:Ed: She asked me to.
- Peaceful in Death: In the extra's he notes that he died very peacefully in the cellar... before coming back as a zombie.
- Poor Communication Kills: If he'd mentioned the cellar beneath the Winchester sooner, the gang could have hidden there instead of trying to hold off the horde with one rifle and he, David and Dianne (depending on whether you think the DVD extras are canon) might have survived...though admittedly, Barbara was going to die, resurrect as a zombie and need to be dealt with, regardless.
- Redemption Equals Death: After he's infected by Pete's bite, he chooses to go out giving Shaun and Liz the best chance he can.
- Shovel Strike: He carries a shovel, which he uses to bash the zo-those things' heads in.
- Skewed Priorities: He refuses to use Liz's house as a place to wait for this to be over, because there is no good place to smoke, even when she lives in a very safe place.
- Straw Loser: No matter how pathetic Shaun's life is, he is clearly better when compared to Ed. Unlike Shaun, Ed is jobless and acts as if he is still a 10 year old. This is why Liz and Pete persuade Shaun to move on from Ed since they know that Ed is holding him back and he could do better without him. Pete even theorizes that Shaun only keeps Ed around to make himself look and feel better by comparison.
- Too Dumb to Live: He takes this to new levels and plays it for laughs. The characters need to get past a horde of zombies, and do so by acting like zombies to avoid drawing attention. When they are nearly to apparent safety, his phone goes off... and he answers it and starts cheerfully talking on the phone, less than ten feet from dozens of zombies. Previously, he had "accidentally" crashed their first car, giving him an excuse to drive Phil's Jaguar instead. Following after the cellphone incident, the electricity comes back on and he starts playing a pub fruit machine, which draw the attention of a zombie in the same building as them. In fact, he's so profoundly stupid and ignorant that it's arguable that turning into a zombie is an improvement.
- Took a Level in Badass: Not to the extent of Shaun, but Ed becomes surprisingly resourceful by the end.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Played with. Ed holds Shaun back, but it's far from intentional and he does love Shaun.
- Undying Loyalty: Despite his immaturity and idiocy, Ed is a loyal and caring friend who'll back up Shaun no matter what. Even after Barbara dies and David tries to shoot her, Ed backs Shaun up without hesitation.
- Ungrateful Bastard: When Pete tries to Pet the Dog when telling Ed and Shaun to keep the noise down, Ed insults him behind his back and ruins the moment.
Liz
Liz
Played By: Kate Ashfield
"Can we just CALM THE FUCK DOWN?"
Shaun's girlfriend. Their relationship is quite strained as she is tired of Shaun's listlessness and laziness.
- Action Girl: Almost wields a chain against the zombies at the very end of the film. She also grabbed a pool cue to beat on the zombified bartender with Shaun and Ed and beat him with a fire extinguisher.
- Action Survivor: Survives the events of the film, along with Shaun.
- AM/FM Characterization: She has a vinyl copy of Sade's Diamond Life, which gets chucked.
- Cold Ham: Justified. She's whispering very loudly towards David during her Rage Breaking Point due to the zombies outside.
- Deadpan Snarker: Probably the biggest snarker in the film.
- Nice Girl: Liz is a kind person who puts up with a lot of shit from various sides. Even her desire to push Shaun into new activities is less nagging and more borne from a desire to see him be happier rather than just going through life on autopilot.
- Only Sane Man: Shares this role in the group with Shaun.
- Poor Communication Kills: If she'd admitted to have started smoking again in secret, Ed probably would've had less of a problem staying at her flat than he did, and he and Shaun wouldn't have decided to go to the Winchester instead.
- Precision F-Strike: Just look at that quote. She actually manages to defuse the situation, somewhat.
- Rage Breaking Point: She gets majorly fed up with David's whining and tantrums and goes into a Cold Ham rant.
- Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: She is trying to push Shaun into being a more proactive and ambitious person, instead of just mindlessly following his daily routines and settling for the path of least resistance. She gives up on him when he, despite promising to change his ways, forgets their date one time too many. Once the crisis has passed, and after all the terror and danger they've been put through, her relationship with him has mellowed out considerably.
Dianne
Dianne
Played By: Lucy Davis
"Just look at the face: it's vacant, with a hint of sadness. Like a drunk who's lost a bet."
Liz's flatmate and a failed actress.
- Action Survivor: She survives the events of the film (see below.)
- Action Girl: She charges into a horde of zombies armed only with David's severed leg. According to an extra on the DVD, she survived!
- At Least I Admit It: As she explains why she stayed with David even knowing he was madly in love with Liz, she had to come to terms with it, and asks why he hasn't.
- Beta Couple: With David.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Is a lot more affable than David, but goes completely berserk when he's ripped open by zombies.
- Break the Cutie: The Zombie Apocalypse happens, a lot of people die around her, her boyfriend gets ripped to shreds before her and she's stuck in a tree forced to eat his leg. No wonder she becomes a recluse.
- Chekhov's Skill: She's a "failed actress." Her acting skills come in handy when the group has to pretend to be zombies to get to the Winchester.
- Granola Girl: She's certainly the free spirited, bohemian type.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: She attacks zombies using one of David's torn off legs.
- Hypocrite: She's the one to point out to David what a stupid idea it is to go through the front door of the Winchester with a hundred zombies there, yet when he gets ripped apart, she immediately runs out the front door. In the Plot Hole Extra she acknowledges this.
- Idiot Ball: She let the zombie horde in so that she can rescue what's left of David. In fairness, they were breaking in through the windows and the backdoor at around the same time, so she really just sped the process up a little.
- Love Martyr: She put up with a neglectful boyfriend who cared more about trying to hook up with her best friend because despite all that, she still cared for him. She even ran out to save him from the zombies as he's being torn apart.
- No Party Like a Donner Party: Survived the Zombie Apocalypse sitting in a tree eating David's leg whenever she was hungry.
- Number Two: Seems to be second most competent behind Shaun, throwing Shaun a weapon to deal with the pajama-clad zombie and checking for signs of the owners of the Winchester and also helping them sneak into the Winchester with her acting skills.
- Rage Breaking Point: She gets really fed up with David for his terrible personality.David: So you're gonna stay with him!?
Dianne: Look Shaun-
David: After everything he-
Dianne: WILL YOU LET ME FINISH!? Shaun didn't ask you to come here. You came for the same reason I did; because you didn't know what else to do. Now get away from that door this instant!
David: But-
Dianne: David!! - Replacement Goldfish: Deconstructed. She knows that David loved (and still loves) Liz, and went into a relationship with him anyway. However, he continues to put Liz on such a high pedestal that he almost completely ignores her, making it a very loveless relationship. What's worse is that she just won't abandon him.
- Satellite Love Interest: She's never seen without David, yet she plays with this since she's able to interact with Shaun and the others and actually help the group (Unlike David). This is ultimately deconstructed as David is only dating her so he can be close to Liz, and since they do so little together while spending so much time together, it makes her know that deep down he wants to be with Liz.
- Stepford Smiler: Ultimately this due to David being such a terrible boyfriend but won't do anything to get out of it.
- Uncertain Doom: Diana is last charging into the zombie horde in a futile attempt to save David. Her fate is revealed in an extra on DVD where she manages to hide at the top of a tree and is currently living with her aunt, too traumatized over the event.
- We Used to Be Friends: Played With. On the one hand, she couldn't stand by David anymore yet still tried to save him even though it was too late. On the other, she holds no ill will towards Shaun and Liz, but she now only talks to them on holiday greeting cards now that she lives with her aunt in Birmingham. So while she's lost contact with friends, it's not due to any ill will, just that they grew apart.
- Wham Line: While everyone is in a Mexican Standoff over David wanting to shoot an infected Barbara, Shaun accuses him of doing it to punish him for dating Liz.Shaun: Oh come on, we all know you love Liz!
David: That is not true!
Shaun: It is!
David: That is not true.
Dianne: Yes, it is.
David
David
Played By: Dylan Moran
"Basically, I'd say your nine lives are up, Shaun."note
Liz's other flatmate. He is, to put it mildly, a bit of a dick.
- Accomplice by Inaction: He and Ed didn't help Shaun fight off a Z-Word like Liz and Dianne were. Shaun calls them out on this, and while Ed had a (extremely) flimsy excuse of being engrossed in his phone, David does not.
- All for Nothing: He spent years trying to be with Liz, and when he finally has to be forced to admit his feelings, she tells him to shut up since it was the worst possible time. Not to mention he spent the whole Zed Apocalypse being a twat, which Liz is quick to point out. If that wasn't bad enough, he's dragged out a window by said Zed's and ripped to shreds.
- An Arm and a Leg: His corpse gets its limbs torn off by the zombies. Dianne is shown holding his leg as she proceeds to fight the zombies.
- The Apocalypse Brings Out the Best in People: Inverted. It brings out the worst in him.
- Asshole Victim: He shows no sympathy for Shaun after he kills his zombified mother, insults his mother, tries to kill Shaun when he rightfully retaliates, and is just an asshole in general. Reportedly, test audiences actually cheered when the zombies ripped him apart.
- A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: When the Z-Words start attacking, he becomes very impulsive. He destroys the window of the Winchester, he nearly shoots Shaun to death, he nearly lets the Z-Words into the Winchester, and so on. Had he waited a bit longer or controlled himself better then he could have survived the outbreak since the army weren't that that far away from The Winchester.
- Beta Couple: With Dianne, whom he uses as a gateway to Liz.
- Beware the Living: A surprisingly straight use of this trope for a romantic comedy with zombies. His uselessness as a party member is completely driven by his envy of Shaun, he possibly attempts Murder by Inaction (and zombie) of Shaun at one point, and his idiotic actions during the climax directly lead to everybody except for Shaun and Liz (and Dianne in deleted scenes) getting killed.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Constantly tries to play the Nice Guy card when he can, but by the end it's made clear he's the Hate Sink for a reason.
- Color Motif: He's known to be envious towards Shaun for being with Liz and is shown to wear green coloured clothes.
- Commander Contrarian: Always ready to insult Shaun's efforts, while offering no constructive suggestions of his own, even though he himself proves to be The Load at one point and Shaun has to improvise with a genuine act of nobility. Shaun eventually grows sick of his snarking and offers to let David to take charge and do things his way, which makes him relent and back away.
- Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: He spends the entire film blaming Shaun for taking David, Dianne, and Liz out of the safety of Liz's apartment. However, Ed points out that David was never forced to leave and he could have stayed behind if he really wanted to.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Sure, he was unsympathetic, but the way he gets disemboweled and severed by the zombies is not pretty.
- Deadpan Snarker: Whenever he's putting Shaun down. Which is often.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype:
- Of the Dogged Nice Guy. Deep down, David never accepted Liz's rejection and chose to be with Dianne just so he can be closer to Liz and prove himself as a better man than her current partner. His support towards Liz after breaking up with Shaun is akin to a vulture circling around a dying animal. When Shaun is attacked by the pyjama-clad zombie in the garden, David doesn't help and excuses his cowardice by saying "Didn't wanna' cramp your style". When a heartbroken Shaun and Dianne out David's feelings for Liz, David meekly forces Shaun to shoot Barbara, Shaun's own mother. After being punched by a grief-stricken Shaun for coldly dismissing Barbara's death, David retaliates by attempting to shoot him with an empty Winchester Rifle. He then attempts to escape the pub through the front door despite the horde of zombies on the other side, trying to convince Dianne and Liz to go with him. This cowardly act reveals David as a predator who leaches off of Dianne's kindness in order to salvage whatever he could from Liz's rejection. This also recontextualizes the garden scene and his reason for going along with Shaun's plan. David was going to let a zombie kill Shaun so he can seduce a mourning Liz. He accompanied Liz and Dianne on the journey to the Winchester so he could play the white knight who saves the girls from danger, but he is ultimately revealed to be a cowardly contrarian who finds it easier to point out Shaun's shortcomings than prove his own superiority.
- He's also a fairly thorough deconstruction of the Non-Action Snarker; the survivors need all the help they can get, but David proves completely useless, so he just stands on the sidelines offering Shaun nothing but increasingly hostile wisecracks that only add a heightened sense of tension to the already deadly situation the group find themselves in.
- Of the Commander Contrarian. As the other bullet points in this example can attest, David is a greater obstacle to the survivors than the zombies are because he is so adamant to not fit.
- He also deconstructs the brutally honest asshole-with-a-point often seen in comedy and horror films. True, his criticisms of Shaun's character aren't entirely off-the-mark at first, but his hatred of Shaun is motivated by envy that he "stole" Liz from him rather than any legitimate grievance, and Shaun's Character Development proved he had far more good qualities than David was willing to give him credit for. It doesn't help that, beyond being a petulant manchild who vastly overestimates his intelligence and whose sheer incompetence actively endangers the group, David is just such an over-the-top asshole that even characters who agree with him are reluctant to take his side.
- Devoured by the Horde: How he dies. It's not pretty.
- Didn't Think This Through: After deciding he and Shaun can't be in the same room anymore, he tries to leave the Winchester through the front door, where all the zombies are! Dianne calls him out on this when he's the only one willing to be that stupid.
- Dirty Coward: For all his snarking at Shaun from the sidelines, he's clearly not massively imbued with courage and resolve. Most notably (and dickishly), despite being the one to pick up the gun and callously insist on the necessity of shooting Barbara to prevent her from rising from the dead, he ultimately bottles out and gets Shaun to do it. This essentially means that he forces Shaun to shoot his own mother in the head.
- Disproportionate Retribution: He was prepared to kill Shaun over punching him! It may also stem from the fact that Shaun outed David's feelings for Liz and caused her to drive the final nail in the coffin by calling David a twat afterwards.
- Dogged Nice Guy: He tries hard to be this, but it's a deconstruction. When in school with Liz, he did try to pursue a relationship with her, but he never got to be with her. His response? Start dating her best friend for years and not hide he wants to be with her so badly. And when she makes it clear she's happy to be with Shaun (If only wishing he'd be more active), he responds by making himself seem like an ideal boyfriend and belittle Shaun at every chance he gets. It all comes to a head with Zed apocalypse, as he and Shaun were at each other's throats. And apparently, Liz barely noticed his crush on her until the aforementioned best friend spelled it out he'd rather be with her. When David defends himself, she tells him to shut up and that it isn't important. Not to mention his horrible personality being put on display for all their friends, he ends up proving he never had a shot with her.
- Faux Affably Evil: He is very passive-aggressive throughout the story.
- Foil: He deliberately tries to make himself one for Shaun, positioning himself as the cultured, considerate "nice guy" Liz will eventually realize she should be with rather than the lazy, immature Shaun. The key difference is that Shaun, for all his flaws, does make a sincere effort to improve and be a better boyfriend and is shown as a genuinely decent guy who is even capable of considerable bravery while David coasts by on simply seeming better than Shaun and reveals himself to have some very ugly character traits as the film goes on.
- Foreshadowing: This and Establishing Character Moment, but when first introduced all he does is criticize Shaun on his efficiency as a boyfriend, and knows more about Liz than he seems to do his own girlfriend.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: A downplayed example for the most part, since he wears glasses and is a pompous and obnoxious dick. Then, at the end, he grabs the rifle and tries to shoot Shaun with an extremely cold look on his face.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Shaun and Ed hate him for obvious reasons but Liz and Dianne don't seem that fond of him either, both seeing his "nice guy" act for what it really is and Dianne being perfectly aware he's just using her to get to Liz. You really wonder why any of them spend time with him.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Towards Shaun, due to David's 'secret' love for Liz.
- Gutted Like a Fish: He gets his organs torn out by the zombies as they drag him out.
- Hate Sink: He's completely devoid of redeeming qualities, spending the movie complaining about Shaun's plans and decisions, acting like The Load, only caring about himself, forcing Shaun to Mercy Kill his zombified mother, and in general being a complete twat. To drive the point home, people in the test audiences reportedly cheered when David was ripped apart by a horde of zombies.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Just as he is about to apologize to Shaun for antagonizing him, he gets ripped apart by hungry zombies. In a deleted scene, he actually managed to apologize before being killed.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He tries to abandon the gang to the zombies, only to get himself brutally killed by said zombies.
- Hopeless Suitor: Deconstructed. He's clearly been in love with Liz for years, ignoring all the signs she has no interest in him and prefers being with Shaun, though his laziness does grate on her. At the start of the movie she just regards him as Dianne's boyfriend, though even Dianne can tell he'd rather be with Liz. His attempts to woo Liz are pathetic and juvenile, and downright creepy. And when he's forced to reveal his feelings, she shuts him up since it's a very serious moment to deal with something so pointless.
- Hypocrite:
- Calls Shaun out for not being a model boyfriend to Liz. This is coming from a man who constantly ignores his own girlfriend because he'd rather be with Liz.
- Tries to invoke this with Shaun, calling him this when he refuses to shoot his zombified mother!
- Claims to be a pacifist when he was offered the gun but was the only one to threaten to shoot Zombie!Barbara. Shaun calls him out during the Mexican Standoff.
- Constantly accuses Shaun of being selfish, such as when he ran off to distract zombies and David tries to make it sound like he abandoned them, while the audience gets the clear feeling that what David really wants to do is having an excuse to shut Shaun out with the zombies. He himself is defined by his selfish fawning over Liz and hating Shaun.
- It's All About Me: Cares only about himself, hyping himself as more competent than Shaun, destroying Dianne's confidence, and fawning constantly over Liz.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: He criticizes Shaun over every decision he makes, yet when the time comes for him to actually be useful to the group, he completely bungles it by not even knowing how to operate circuit breakers, something Shaun does casually.
- Jerkass: Unlike the Jerk with a Heart of Gold Ed, David isn't at all likeable. He is an arrogant, whiny and pretentious snob who acts as an intellectual while making inept and impulsive decisions during crucial moments.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Deconstructed. He's right about Shaun's inept leadership and that the Winchester really isn't a good place to hide from the undead, but he's only saying it because he's jealous that Liz hooked up with Shaun instead of him and doesn't want them to have any opportunity to make up. The other characters also point out that Shaun is at least trying to get everyone somewhere safe, while all David does is complain and never actually do anything to help their situation and the only reason he went along with Shaun's (admittedly not fantastic) plan is that he didn't have any ideas of his own.
David: I trust Shaun has another genius scheme up his sleeve.
Liz: This is hardly constructive, David.
David: No, Lizzie, this is a waste of time. We should have stayed at the flat!
Ed: Yeah, why didn't you?
David: Because...because...because of...(gestures aimlessly) Captain Wow.- He's also right about having to shoot Shaun's mother, who's just died from a zombie bite and will soon revive as one. Even Shaun deep down knows he's right, but can't bear to imagine shooting his mum. Liz lampshades both the "has a point" and especially the "jerkass" parts:
Liz: Now, I can see what David is trying to say—
David: Thank you Lizzie.
Liz: Even if he is being a twat.- Briefly playing the trope straight, he does have one valid point: when Shaun claims that Liz's flat isn't safe because more zombies will come and eventually break in, since "it only takes one of them to know you're in here", David points out they were perfectly safe with only a few unsuspecting zombies outside — until Shaun turned up and started attracting attention and more zombies, and because of him the undead now know where they are.
- Karmic Butt-Monkey: He gets a lot of abuse from people. Given what a jerk he is, it's hard to see he doesn't deserve it.
- Kick the Dog: He may be a condescending and pessimistic jerk but he isn't wrong on some things, but his comment towards Shaun after the latter kills his zombified mom loses him sympathy. Trying to shoot him afterwards sinks it even further.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: During an attempted apology, even.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: As Dianne points out, if he really was as capable as he was trying to act whenever he was putting Shaun down, he would have taken charge of the group himself, rather than following along with whatever Shaun was doing.
- Lack of Empathy: After Shaun kills his zombified mother, everyone consoles Shaun, but he just says this:David: Well, I think we all agreed you did the right thing there.
- Lethally Stupid: He ends up putting the entire group in mortal peril and indirectly causing the death and reanimation of Ed when he frantically tries to leave the pub after failing to kill Shaun.
- The Load: And you thought Ed was bad! All he does is complain about every decision Shaun makes, acting like he knows better but never offering any useful plans in turn. He also never contributes to fighting the zombies (the only other one who doesn't, Barabara, has the excuse of being an old woman while he's a healthy young man) when Dianne will at least throw people weapons and even Ed actually has a kill count. When he actually does do something, it just makes things worse.
- Love Makes You Dumb: Everything he does is motivated in some way by his not-so-secret love for Liz.
- Manchild: Of a different flavor than Shaun or Ed; David is a pseudo-intellectual snob who spouts off condescending wisecracks at Shaun's expense to look mature, but considering how little he does to help the group's situation, and the fact that the few things he actually does do are reckless and poorly-thought-out, he instead comes off looking petulant. This isn't helped by the reveal that David's criticisms of Shaun are made in bad faith and motivated by anger that Shaun "stole" Liz from him.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Trying to outright murder Shaun out of sheer petulance puts him squarely in this category.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Twice, he nearly allows a zombie to kill Shaun after when the latter is tackled by one. He also tries to shoot Shaun after having his heart broken by Liz and being punched by Shaun.
- Murder by Inaction: He nearly allowed Shaun to die when a zombie tackled him in the garden, only excusing himself by saying "Didn't want to cramp your style".
- Never My Fault: Constantly blames his problems on Shaun.David: There's also a huge hole in the window.
Ed: You did that, you twat. - Non-Action Guy: The most he does is empty a bin and throw it through a window.
- Not Good with Rejection: After Shaun and Dianne out David's feelings for Liz and after Liz rejects him by calling him a twat for wanting to kill Barbara. David's resentment and envy finally boils over and he tries to shoot Shaun after being punched.
- Not So Above It All: He makes his disdain for Shaun's laziness and immaturity abundantly clear but the film repeatedly shows David is in no position to gloat as he reveals himself to be much worse than Shaun.
- Only Sane Man: Subverted. David likes to think he's this, however really he's just The Load.
- Opportunistic Bastard: When Shaun is attacked in the garden by a zombie, David is too scared to save him and justifies his cowardice by saying "Didn't wanna' cramp your style". After trying to shoot Shaun when the latter punches him for coldly dismissing Barbara's death, this creates the question if David intentionally refused to help Shaun in the garden. In the garden, David looks more agitated than scared and looks more upset about Shaun's survival. Since it's pretty clear that he hates Shaun and still harbours feelings for Liz, it's not hard to assume that he wants Shaun out of the picture so he can get together with Liz by sharing their grief. He didn't plan for this, he just won't interfere.
- Pull the Thread: Played with; there's no thread to actually pull, but he has a weird moment of doing this when Shaun returns to the Winchester after luring away the zombies. While everyone else is just happy Shaun hasn't been, you know, torn to pieces by dead people, David begins interrogating him about where he's been and how he got inside, in a manner which seems like he's trying to catch Shaun out in some kind of lie or seed some kind of idea that Shaun can't be trusted for some reason. He's clearly just being the Commander Contrarian, though; it's telling that this comes right after a warm moment between Shaun and Liz and it backfires on him since the topic eventually comes back to the massive gaping hole in the window that he caused:David: [Suspicious] How... did you lose them?
Shaun: I just gave them the slip. It wasn't difficult; they're not all that.
David: Well, how did you get in?
Shaun: There is a back door, David! I tried to tell you before you went and smashed the window.
David: [Defensive] Well, I wasn't the one who gave away our position by having a tiff with my boyfriend. - Plot-Irrelevant Villain: He serves as the contrarian who berates Shaun at every opportunity, and he seemingly tries to kill Shaun twice in the movie. The first time is when he refuses to save Shaun from a zombie, and a second time when he tries to shoot Shaun after Barbara's death.
- Poor Communication Kills: If he'd just let Shaun point out There Was a Door, then he wouldn't have broken a giant window. Then again, he hates Shaun.
- Phrase Catcher: "A twat." Because he is.
- Rapid-Fire "No!": After trying to apologize to Shaun for how he's been treating him, he's suddenly pulled through the window and torn apart by zombies. He has the most gruesome death of the main cast and he's begging for his life the whole time.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: While it's clear David has a point when he remarks that Shaun's plan isn't very well thought-out, and his ultimate goal amounts to little more to sitting around in the dark eating peanuts and waiting for rescue, his criticisms of said plan are more out of personal dislike for Shaun than him actually having any idea of what to do instead. On top of that, he himself rarely has anything to offer but unhelpful snark, and just makes things worse on the rare occasions he actually tries to do something; Dianne even lampshades it, remarking that if David really was as capable as he was trying to act whenever he was putting Shaun down, he would have taken charge of the group himself rather than just following along with whatever Shaun was doing.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After failing to kill Shaun because the gun ran out of shells, he decided he wanted to leave the Winchester, right through the front door. Everybody points out what a stupid and short sighted idea this is.
- Self-Disposing Villain: He ends up getting brutally killed by the zombies while standing next to the window. The gang try to save him, but to no avail.
- Skewed Priorities: Cares more about hooking up with Liz than anything. When he was threatening to shoot Zombie!Barbara and everyone was against him, he was called out by Shaun and Dianne for being in love with her. Leading to this exchange:David: Lizzie, I just want you to know that my feelings for you have always-!
Liz: David, please! There are more pressing matters at hand here! - Small Name, Big Ego: Clearly thinks of himself as the smart one of the group whose guidance will lead them to safety instead of Shaun. In reality, he never provides anything more than unhelpful snark and shows he's, if anything, more of a liability than Shaun and doesn't even have Shaun's surprising bravery to make up for it.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Subverted; his glasses get him called "four-eyes" once or twice, but David is nowhere near as smart as he thinks he is.
- Smug Snake: Very smug about his supposed superiority to Shaun, yet when the chips are down, proves himself to be even more unreliable, incompetent and just plain stupid than Shaun ever was.
- The Sociopath: He comes dangerously to this, when he tries to shoot Shaun with a rifle.
- Stalker Witha Crush: Acts a little too involved in Liz's relationship with Shaun and plays the "nice guy" card whenever he can.
- The Starscream: Played interestingly, but when the group gets into the Winchester, he tries to become leader when Shaun goes to distract zombies, assuming he's dead and whines like the Trope Namer. And after Barbara dies and Shaun punches him, he's prepared to kill him like the Trope Namer.
- Stupid Evil: The first thing he does when they get to the front door of the Winchester is break the window, even though that is a really short-sighted idea. He didn't even wait for Shaun to point out the back door.
- Tantrum Throwing: When they get to the Winchester, he slowly gets into this when the next plan to survive is wait for Shaun and go from there. When everyone tries to relax, he goes to the snacks and starts throwing them at everyone just because he's not being listened to.
- Token Evil Teammate: Not exactly 'evil', but he is by far the most unpleasant of the group. Though pointing the gun at Shaun leans pretty close.
- Too Dumb to Live: Standing right in front of the pub window, seconds before he gets eaten. His behaviour also degenerates into this as his Skewed Priorities, childish grudges and Tantrum Throwing would have, even if he wasn’t dragged out the window and eaten, likely ensured his death further down the line regardless.
- Undignified Death: However, much as he deserved it, he was still dragged out a window and ripped to shreds, begging for mercy.
- Uriah Gambit: Implied, When Shaun is tackled by a zombie in the garden, David is seemingly too scared to move, forcing Liz to intervene. Rewatching the scene after knowing how willing David was to kill Shaun, it makes you wonder if David refused to help because he saw the attack as an opportunity to kill Shaun without the ramifications.
- Villainous Breakdown: After Liz angrily rejects his feelings for her by calling him "a twat" and being punched by Shaun, David tries to shoot Shaun while laying on the ground. After doing this, David immediately freaks out and tries to escape the pub through the front door despite the hoard of zombies on the other side. He tries to convince Liz and Dianne to join him by insulting Shaun.
- Villainy-Free Villain: He's more an obnoxious asshole than a proper villain. That said, he does kind of subvert the "villainy-free" part later on in the film where he tries to shoot Shaun.
- We Used to Be Friends: Played With. On the one hand, Shaun and Ed never really liked him, but Liz and Dianne become so sick of his whining, selfishness, pettiness, and cowardice that they don't follow him when he becomes very stupid. Doesn't stop everyone from trying to save him from the Z-Words, though.
Barbara
Barbara
Played By: Penelope Wilton
"It's been a funny sort of day, hasn't it?"
Shaun's happy-go-lucky mother.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Cheerfully oblivious to the Zombie Apocalypse going on around her. At least at first; after she's bitten, she seems more distracted by hiding her bite than actually being oblivious to everything.
- The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right: She is right that the random flowers she picked up on the side of the road were bought for her by Shaun. She just didn't know he threw them away in frustration the previous night.
- Happily Married: With Philip. She's also implied to have been this with Shaun's real father given she still wore a necklace he got her.
- Mortal Wound Reveal: She reveals the zombie bite on her wrist when the group gets to the Winchester.
- Nice Girl: She might be the kindest character in the film, and liked by everyone.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Shaun is trying to get her and Philip out of the house, he can't bring himself to say that there's a zombie apocalypse and that Philip is Secretly Dying. So he decides to tell her that he touched him when he was younger. He immediately regrets it and admits to the mistake. It's the only time we see Barbara become legitimately pissed; she coldly tells Shaun off for not respecting her marriage or her feelings and that he needs to grow up.
- Second Love: Philip is this to her, after Shaun's real father died some years prior to the events of the film.
- The Load: She's not very useful, but not actively detrimental like Ed nor flat-out incompetent and shortsighted like David.
- Too Dumb to Live: What did she think would happen opening the door to a zombie?
- Zombie Infectee: Every zombie movie needs one.
Philip
Philip
Played By: Bill Nighy
"It's a lot of overblown nonsense, a lot of drug nuts running wild."
Shaun's grumpy stepfather.
- Dying Declaration of Love: After getting bitten twice, a dying Philip apologizes to Shaun for making him hate him, assuring that he always loved him, and asks that he takes care of his mum.
- Happily Married: To Shaun's mum, Barbara.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Shaun hates him and he acts pretty coldly towards his stepson at first, but it's later revealed that he genuinely cared for Shaun even after everything they went through.
- Last Request: Asks Shaun to take care of Barbara before he dies.
- Major Injury Underreaction: "I'm perfectly alright, Barbara; I ran it under a cold tap."
- Perpetual Frowner: Never smiles. Ever. The zombified him does, however, smile in relief.
- Tough Love: He tried to use this on Shaun over the years because he felt he didn't have motivation. Phillip ultimately confesses to Shaun that he always loved him like he was his own son.
- Wicked Stepfather: Subverted. Shaun certainly views him as such at first, but Phillip is ultimately a good-hearted, if not slightly abrasive, fellow; and as Barbara points out, Shaun wasn't exactly an easy boy/teenager to live with.
- Zombie Infectee: Notably, he gets bitten twice, presumably speeding up the process.
Yvonne
Yvonne
Played By: Jessica Hynes
"Glad somebody made it!"
One of Shaun's old friends.
- Action Survivor: Survives the events of the film.
- The Cameo: Jessica Stevenson previously worked with Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost on Spaced.
- Catchphrase: "Oh my God, Shaun!" Said cheerfully after bumping into Shaun at random intervals.
- Hero of Another Story: Has a group of survivors just like Shaun (with a counterpart for every single character in Shaun's group), but she seems to be the only one who got out alive — or at least, is the only one we later see. Presumably kicked a lot of zombie ass off-screen.
- The Pollyanna: She's almost constantly smiling and cheerful, even in the midst of a Zombie Apocalypse. Her upbeat personality doesn't prevent her from surviving the events of the film, either.
- Running Gag: She keeps bumping into Shaun randomly throughout the events of the movie.
Pete
Pete
Played By: Peter Serafinowicz
"Sort your fucking life out, mate!"
Shaun's other housemate. He really, really doesn't like Ed.
- Berserk Button: Being called a prick is this, as Ed learned the hard way.note
- Boom, Headshot!: One of the few zombies Shaun manages to shoot on the head.
- Brick Joke: When Shaun tries to leave the bathroom after finding the infected Pete in the shower, tells Pete that he and Ed and are taking his car to the pub, and he can join them if he feels better. He shows up when the other zombies break through the pub's barricades.
- Butt-Monkey: Gets put through a lot of shit and that's before being turned into a zombie and dying.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Has a rather epic one."No, it's not. It's fucking Sunday. And I've got to go to fucking work in four fucking hours 'cos every other fucker in my fucking department is fucking ill! Now can you see why I'm SO FUCKING ANGRY? "
- Deadpan Snarker: Whenever he has to put up with Ed's stupidity. Which seems to be often.
- Full-Frontal Assault: He turns into a zombie during a shower, causing dead Pete to stumble around butt nude.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Considering this held the night before Pete turns into a zombie the next morning, Pete tried to Pet the Dog towards Shaun and Ed, but then Ed acts as an Ungrateful Bastard towards Pete's act of kindness, it is all ruined and results in an argument between Shaun and Pete and the latter going back to bed on bad terms.
- Incongruously-Dressed Zombie: His zombie is fully nude because he died during his morning shower.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Ed doesn't pay his rent, makes a mess out of his house, plays loud music at night and isn't even attempting to get a job. It's hard to dispute his assessment for why Shaun keeps Ed around, even if the two are best friends. More infamously, he's the one who tells Shaun to sort his life out, which he spends the rest of the film trying to do.
- Notably, even Ed agrees that being woken up by rave music at 4 am with work that morning is a perfectly understandable reason to start cursing out your roommates.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He does show genuine sympathy to Shaun after learning that he and Liz have split up, and a lot of his more dickish tendencies appear to be provoked by Ed's own Jerkass nature.
- The One Thing I Don't Hate About You: He hates Ed for being a disgusting slob and a freeloader who lives on his house's couch, but he admits in conversation that Ed can be genuinely funny on occasion.
- Pet the Dog: There are occasions where he'll try to cut Shaun and Ed some slack, but Ed is the one who puts him back in a foul mood again.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He really lays into Shaun in their final argument after his buttons have been pushed a bit too far (though depending on how generously you want to interpret it, it can also be viewed as You Are Better Than You Think You Are)."Stop defending [Ed], Shaun! All he ever does is hold you back! Or does it make you feel better having someone around who's more of a loser than you are? [...] You know what I mean. I assume it was Liz who did the dumping? Sort your fucking life out, mate!"
- Small Role, Big Impact: Pete is only alive in two scenes at the beginning of the film, yet his presence helps influence Shaun to put his life back together after his "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
- Undignified Death: He is zombified while in the shower, causing him to walk around in the buff until Shaun shoots him the head - leaving his nude body on a pub's floor, to be trampled over by a fully dressed zombie horde.
- Zombie Infectee: He was assaulted and bitten by what he believed to be a group of "crackheads". They weren't crackheads.
Noel
Noel
Played By: Rafe Spall
A teenaged coworker of Shaun.
- Bus Crash: He disappears from the movie after his scene at work with Shaun and is absent during the zombie conflict but reappears on the news six months later, zombified and being used for labor.
- Fat Idiot: He's noticeably chubby and very slow on the uptake.
- Phoneaholic Teenager: He interrupts Shaun's speech to the others to take a couple of calls.
- The Slacker: He's answering calls while on the clock, something Shaun lectures him for, before doing the same when he gets a call form Liz and when Phillip comes over something Noel is quick to point out.
- The Stoner: According to some extras, he's the guy who keeps calling Ed about buying drugs.
Jeremy Thompson
Jeremy Thompson
Played By: Jeremy Thompson
A news anchor seen in several scenes.
- As Himself: He's a real-life newscaster playing himself.
- Celebrity Survivor: A celebrity newscaster who survives the outbreak and is seen being interviewed about his exploits in the epilogue.
- Consummate Professional: He remains steady and collected while warning people about the zombie outbreak even though there appear to be zombies outside of his news building in the background of his reports.
- Ignored Expert: He gives advice about remaining calm, waiting for the military and not leaving your homes which is ignored by Shaun and Ed.
- Newscaster Cameo: Although he appears in more scenes than the average cameo.
- Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain: The Trope Namer, though in doing so, it's the advice he gives out about how to deal with the zombies on a newscast, as opposed to being either on the giving or receiving end.
- This Just In!: He reports on the details of the outbreak as they happen.
- Voice of the Resistance: Jeremy informs the public that while zombies are laying waste to society, the smart thing to do is to stay calm and shelter in place, as military remnants are working to quickly kill or capture all of the zombies. The heroes ignore Jeremy, but it later turns out that his advice was sound and just about everyone who followed it survives with far less trouble than the heroes.
