We’ve all wondered how we’d actually fare at the end of the world, particularly now that global warming, nuclear warfare and the threat of AI killing us all have provided ample material for our anxiety dreams. I’ve always thought that when civilisation breaks down, surely our survival instincts will kick in and humanity will endure – but if Channel 4’s Apocalypse is anything to go by, we’re ultimately doomed. The latest “social experiment” to come from the broadcaster drops 14 strangers into an abandoned town in the US city of Indiana, challenging them to survive 28 days with limited access to water and food.
Split into two groups, the contestants must forage, hunt and rummage their way across the 1,000-acre derelict site – which was formerly home to a large mental health facility before being repurposed as a military training base. It’s not the first time that Channel 4 has put ordinary people through armageddon; illusionist Derren Brown’s 2012 special, also titled Apocalypse, hypnotised an unsuspecting teacher into thinking he was one of the few survivors after a meteorite crash wiped out most of humanity. This time, the contestants are aware they’re on camera – and boy, don’t you know it as a viewer.
Content creator Steven, 32 – yes, of course there is a content creator – spends most of the first episode delivering sassy quips to camera and being actively unhelpful while frustrated Australian cattle farmer Scott, who’s his group’s only hope at survival, barks insults at the others and angrily chops wood. They’re joined by the more competent theatre director Bertie, Brummie mechanic Louise (who trips and smashes her nose on the very first day), Aussie psychologist and self-defined “princess” Kiera with a phobia of sweat, and student nurse Kyra and paramedic Laura, who are yet to receive airtime but will undoubtedly have their moments later on. Tensions immediately arise over food, when Scott – having broken into the supermarket and recovered towers of tinned goods – firmly insists that the group ration it all.
Try to resist the urge to tear your hair out. They’re not the only group falling apart just hours into the experiment. Over on the Westside of the site, Welsh farmer Ioan takes charge of his fellow survivors – London cabbie Brooke, ex Made in Chelsea star Freddie, Reform UK councillor Celia and Paralympian Kelly among others – and they’re even less successful.
After setting up camp in a freezing railway station, Celia declares that she’s “setting boundaries”, which apparently means claiming ownership of the battery powered light found by another member of the group. The next day, Ioan shuts down Brooke’s sensible suggestion of finding food and water, deciding instead that the group should make their cold base more habitable. As a result, the other group get to the supermarket and various chicken coops first, leaving the Westsiders hungry and desperate.
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