TV pick: Salem - witches are the new zombies

Shane West and Janet Montgomery star in new supernatural show, Salem, on The Zone.

Move over vampires. Get out of the way zombies. Scram werewolves. There are witches among us.

Sky TV's new series Salem is a supernatural horror set in late 17th century America, during the time of the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts.

Salem is a classically horror-based show, making the most of eerie costumes and creepy characters. This is no Charmed or Bewitched, the witches of Salem mean business - scary, demonic business.

"In our world it's very much a big what-if." says actor Shane West, who plays rough as guts John Alden, a voice of reason among the town's witch panic.

"What if the witches were the ones who ran the Salem witch trials? Were the ones who sentenced innocent people to die?" And it seems as though witches may be pulling the strings in Salem.

In the premiere episode we find the villagers growing crazy with suspicion and paranoia as the hunt for witches begins, led by Reverend Cotton Mather. People are tortured brutally, girls are possessed by demons, spells are cast, and plots are hatched. But despite Salem's "fantastical" elements the show grounds itself in history.

"We made it as historically accurate as we could," says West.

"These characters that the actors are playing were real life human beings during that time of American history and a lot of the things that happened to them on the show happened in real life. John Alden is one of the sons of the founding fathers of this town. I liken him to the first cowboy before cowboys ever really existed. He's the first rebel, the first All-American hero, so to speak." West's character is introduced early on. As he returns home to Salem from war he discovers not only is his town in turmoil, but the woman he loves has married another man. What he doesn't know is that she has also become a Salem witch.

"When he suddenly stars noticing witch craft and starts having doubts, the one thing he stays strong to, as you'll see throughout the season, is that he commits to two things: trying to regain the love of his life, Mary Sibley (played by Janet Montgomery) and protecting the town that his father helped create."

For fans of Supernatural, American Horror Story or Penny Dreadful, Salem is a show with a darker touch.

But ... if you still hanker for zombies, tonight The Zone starts screening new series Z Nation (9.30pm), a kind of Walking Dead B-movie rip-off starring Lost's Harold Perrineau as a soldier charged with getting an immune Patient Zero from New York to California as the zombie plague takes over the world.

"We're trying to put the fun back in zombies, says executive producer Karl Schaefer. "Our characters aren't afraid of zombies and they're not just waiting to die. Their goal isn't just to survive. They have a mission."

When: Wednesday 8.30pm
Where: The Zone, Sky TV
What: An earlier American horror story

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