The forgotten 5-part sci-fi thriller that’s so wild you’ll binge it this weekend

Ever wondered what it would be like to wake up as a zombie—only, instead of the usual apocalypse drama, you’re stumbling through your ordinary life trying to keep your increasingly ghoulish new appetite a secret from your loved ones? That’s exactly the rather bonkers set-up behind 'iZombie', one of the cleverest and daftest dramas to ever sneak onto British telly screens (well, American screens, but you see my point). It might have gone a bit under most people’s radar, but trust me, it deserves far more love than it got during its run from 2015 to 2019 on The CW.

The Premise: Brains for Dinner, Morals for Dessert

Here’s how it kicks off: Olivia ‘Liv’ Moore, played by Rose McIver, is your standard fare hard-working, straight path medical resident—up until a boat party ends with her turning into a literal zombie. She does not go on a bloodthirsty rampage (missed opportunity, perhaps) but instead takes up a job in the coroner’s office. The move is strategic: all the brains she could possibly need, right there in the morgue and no need to frighten her friends to death by feasting on their heads.

But then it gets properly weird: whenever Liv tucks into someone's brain, she not only solves their death but actually absorbs their personality, skills, and sometimes their worst habits. One week, she turns into a high-maintenance parent; next, she’s caught up in a fit of artistic inspiration she never had before. In a standout episode with the not-so-subtle title 'Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Brain', she scarfs down the remains of a relentless flirt and for a day becomes the embodiment of cringe-worthy pick-up lines.

There’s a lot of comedy in watching Liv bounce from one borrowed identity to the next, never quite herself, raising all sorts of questions about who she’s going to be at the end of the day. Genuinely, the show's much smarter about personal identity than you’d guess from its rather daft premise.

Brains, Police Work, and Yes—Actual Character Growth

Liv’s brain-eating turns out to have an upside: insight into unsolved deaths. She winds up assisting the Seattle Police Department, basically moonlighting as a psychic detective (think: Sherlock Holmes with a slightly grubbier diet). The procedural crime-of-the-week set-up runs through most of the first few seasons, but never gets stale thanks to Liv's ever-changing quirks and the show’s willingness to poke fun at itself.

No zombies overrunning cities. No endless misery. It’s basically a detective show, but with much more biting (sorry) humour than the usual fare. It’s quite refreshing, especially if you’re tired of zombies meaning The Walking Dead-style misery porn. Here, the apocalypse is less about the end times, more about having a rough patch at work.

Cast & Key Characters: The Show-Stealers

• Liv Moore (Rose McIver): The central character, torn between her old life and her new undead one, with a steady supply of new personalities every episode.
• Ravi Chakrabarti (Rahul Kohli): The medical examiner, Liv’s confidant and science sidekick. He’s a highlight of the show: charming, quick, and the sort of TV best mate you wish you actually had. (You might also spot him in a swathe of Netflix thrillers from Mike Flanagan.)
• There’s also Liv’s ex-fiancé Major (Robert Buckley), trying to navigate her sudden transformation, Detective Clive Babineaux (Malcolm Goodwin) who becomes her slightly bewildered police partner, and a handful of big bads and misfits sneaking around the edges each season.

Shift in Gear: When Things Get Even Stranger

By the time the fifth and final season rolls around, iZombie makes a daring lurch into new territory—which, to be fair, might jar fans who loved the straightforward brain-of-the-week formula, but the change is actually a strong point. The main storyline pivots entirely, and the show simply refuses to go stale or settle on easy tropes. For a series about a zombie pretending to be a normal person, staying fresh for five seasons is sort of miraculous.

There’s also a noticeable lack of maudlin self-pity—Liv genuinely wants to do what’s right, not just for herself but for all the other zombies lurking in Seattle’s nooks and crannies. The humour and chemistry between Liv and Ravi especially make even the heavier moments breezier than you’d expect from your average undead drama.

'When Liv eats a brain, she turns into that person. But at the end of it, when she goes back to being herself, she’s left wondering: does she want to keep any of that, and is she really the same after all these changes?'

There are only thirteen episodes in the first season, so if you’re built for weekend bingeing, you could power through it in two or three days. Worth noting: even as the series plays with familiar TV formulas, there’s always something a bit mad or surprising tucked away in each episode.