Directed by Danny Boyle. Written by Alex Garland.

Selena

• It started off as rioting. But right from the beginning you knew this was different, because it was happening in small villages, market towns... and then it wasn't on TV anymore. It was on the street outside. It was coming through your windows. It was a virus, an infection. You didn't need a doctor to tell you that. It was the blood, or something in the blood. By the time they tried to evacuate the cities, it was already too late. The infection was everywhere. The army blockades were overrun, and that's when the exodus started. The day before the TV stopped broadcasting, there were reports of infection in Paris and New York. You didn't hear anything more after that.

Major Henry West

• This is what I've seen in the four weeks since infection: people killing people. Which is much what I saw in the four weeks before infection, and the four weeks before that, and before that, as far back as I care to remember- people killing people. Which, to my mind, puts us in a state of normality right now.

Sergeant Farrell

• When you look at the whole life of the planet, we — you know, man — has only been around for a few blinks of an eye. So if the infection wipes us all out... that is a return to normality.

Dialogue

[A researcher tries to dissuade animal-rights activists from releasing his chimpanzees.]

Researcher: The chimps have been infected. They're highly contagious. They've been given an inhibitor...

Activist: Infected with what?

Researcher: In order to cure, you must first understand...

Activist: Infected with WHAT?

Researcher: Rage.

Jim: What about the government? What are they doing?

Selena: There is no government.

Jim: Of course there's a government! There's always a government! They're in a... a bunker, or a plane!

Mark: No. There's no government. No army. No police. No TV, no radio, no electricity. You're the first uninfected person we've seen in six days.

[Shortly after Selena has killed the newly infected Mark.]

Jim: How did you know? I mean, how did you know he was infected?

Selena: The blood.

Jim: Yeah... but there was blood everywhere. It was on me, it was on you —

Selena: Look, I didn't know he was infected, okay? He knew. I could see it in his face. Look, if someone gets infected you've got between ten and twenty seconds to kill them. It might be your brother or your sister or your oldest friend. It makes no difference. And just so you know where you stand — if it happens to you, I'll do it in a heartbeat.

Jim: Do you know what I was thinking?

Selena: You were thinking that you'll never hear another piece of original music, ever again. You'll never read a book that hasn't already been written or see a film that hasn't already been shot.

Jim: Um, that's what you were thinking.

Selena: No. I was thinking I was wrong.

Jim: About what?

Selena: All the death, all the shit, it doesn't really matter to Frank and Hannah, because... well, she's got a dad and he's got his daughter. So I was wrong when I said staying alive is as good as it gets.

Jim: See, that's what I was thinking.

Selena: Was it?

Jim: Mm-hmm. You stole my thought.

Selena: [she kisses him on the cheek] Sorry.

Jim: It's okay. You keep it.

[West brings Jim to the infected soldier Mailer, kept chained in the yard.]

West: Got infected two days ago. Mitchell managed to knock him out cold, and we got a chain around his neck.

Jim: You're keeping him alive?

West: The idea was to learn more about infection. Have him teach me.

Jim: And... has he?

West: In a way. [he kneels near Mailer, inducing a fit of groaning and thrashing] He's telling me he'll never bake bread, plant crops, raise livestock. He's telling me he's futureless. And eventually, he'll tell me how long the infected take to starve to death.

West: I promised them women.

Jim: What?

West: Eight days ago, I found Jones with his gun in his mouth. He said he was going to kill himself because there was no future. What could I say to him? We fight off the infected or we wait until they starve to death... and then what? What do nine men do except wait to die themselves? I moved us from the blockade, and I set the radio broadcasting, and I promised them women. Because women mean a future.

Taglines

• The Days Are Numbered

• Be Thankful For Everything, For Soon There Will Be Nothing...

• Day 1: Exposure - Day 3: Infection - Day 8: Epidemic - Day 20: Evacuation - Day 28: Devastation

• Goodbye

• His fear began when he woke up alone. His terror began when he realised he wasn't.

• "...people killing people." -Our rage is destroying humanity; whether on a large or small scale, slowly but surely.

• Return to normality

Cast

• Cillian Murphy - Jim
• Naomie Harris - Selena
• Noah Huntley - Mark
• Brendan Gleeson - Frank
• Megan Burns - Hannah
• Christopher Eccleston - Major Henry West
• Stuart McQuarrie - Sergeant Farrelle