With horror fans rushing to watch new zombie movie 28 Years Later – the second sequel to Cillian Murphy’s 28 Days Later – it’s likely everyone will be craving more of the same right up until the release of spin-off The Bone Temple next year. They’re in luck, as one BBC drama actually inspired Danny Boyle’s latest release.
28 Years Later follows a group of survivors of the zombie apocalypse living on a remote island, protected from the hordes on the mainland. With Boyle returning to the franchise after more than two decades, it’s a direct sequel to 2002 release 28 Days Later and loosely related to 2007 release 28 Weeks Later, which followed the US Army’s attempts to help London residents and starred Jeremy Renner and Rose Byrne.
In 2026, fans can expect the release of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, a spin-off film directed by Mia DaCosta and starring Ralph Fiennes. Filmed back-to-back with Boyle’s 2025 release, the spin-off sees a messenger on a bicycle awaken from a coma to discover that the world has been infected by a zombie virus.
But despite launching its own successful sequels and spin-offs, the latest offering is inspired by an old BBC drama with not a zombie in sight. Titled Penda’s Fen, the programme aired in 1974 and “left an extraordinary impression” on Danny Boyle.
The film tells the story of vicar’s son Stephen Franklin, who sees his world crumble when he is visited by demons and angels and is spoken to by Jesus up on the cross. Scenes in the film see a church swallowed by a yawning chasm and has been branded “deeply unsettling” by viewers.
Starring Spencer Banks and John Atkinson, the made-for-TV film was branded “stunning and accomplished” by one reviewer, who wrote: “This is one of those films that will make you think and is the sort that will give you more on subsequent viewings. I am already wanting to see it again as there is so much here to drink in with both your eyes and mind that I a bound to have missed some on my first viewing.
“Absolutely recommended to anyone interested in this time in TV development or those who love a stunningly well made, written and directed film.”
Another viewer penned: “The overall result is unique, and stands out not only amongst some of the other classic television plays that Play for Today produced but also – as the compilers of Time Out magazine’s list realised – British film as a whole.”