ZOMBIES roamed around a South Lakeland village and a picturesque hillside was turned into a post-apocalyptic battlefield for one day of filming for the pilot of a new horror series.

Undead, by Celtic Storm Films, portrays a group of hard-core survivors, criminals and military members in ‘a dog eat dog’ world centred on Old Hutton, near Kendal.

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Rick McLeod, director, co-writer and actor, said that it takes an hour in make-up to create a zombie depending on its state of decomposition.

Make-up artists Zara Barrow and Jobie McPartland had their work cut out creating the terrifying undead who wreaked havoc in the Cumbrian countryside for a day.

“It’s not just black eyes and whitening the face," said Rick. "We make it clear that they are actually rotting away.”

Much of Undead was created through the power of social media as Rick took his idea of the show to internet and appealed for actors and volunteers to come forward.

Usually Rick’s projects have a five month pre-filming stage, but Undead went from an idea to filming in four weeks.

“I believe that things happen for a reason”, Rick said. “Everything just fell into place.”

Filming was not without hiccups, as one of the leading actors dropped out last minute and had to be urgently replaced.

And despite the bad weather the filming still went ahead with everyone in high spirits.

“Everyone who has come back to me have said they had absolutely fantastic time in the filming,” said Rick, who has lived in the area for 16 years.

After an intense day of filming, the pilot has gone to post-production to be edited in the United States.

Rick is now moving on to his next project, another post-apocalyptic piece set in Cumbria.

“Cumbria would be pretty amazing in an apocalypse,” Rick said. “We could survive almost anything.”