Well, duh. We know all about the dead people. Those grotesque, undead beings – complete with requisite blank eyes and blood splattered bodies – that have taken over America for reasons unexplained. From the series’ opening scene, in which very much alive Sheriff Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) encounters a young female zombie and shoots her brains out across a service station car park, we’re pretty familiar with the fact that The Walking Dead has something to do with ‘‘dead people.’’

The award-winning, highly acclaimed drama has been one of the most anticipated shows to hit Australian screens in some time. Season one, which premieres on Foxtel’s new FX channel this weekend, was seen in the States back in 2010.

Based on an ongoing comic book series, The Walking Dead was developed for US cable channel AMC (home of Mad Men and Breaking Bad among others) by Frank Darabont, director of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile.

Darabont’s influence is evident from the first episode. Much of The Walking Dead looks like the type of big budget production he is used to; and the post-apocalyptic world created in the show is utterly believable.

Lincoln – a British actor best known for his roles in UK dramas This Life and Teachers - attempts his best American accent in his leading man role.

In the first 15 minutes, we establish that Grimes has been shot in the line of duty and awakes in a decrepit hospital; where zombies attempt to escape from behind locked doors.

Rushing home, Grimes realises his wife Lori and son Carl are missing. So what else would a confused man, still dressed in his hospital gown, do except brave the zombie-infested outside world and try to find them?

The Walking Dead is predictably violent, tense and cinematic in its scope. Well acted and directed, if it has a flaw it’s that it’s oh-so serious. Yes, yes, I know zombies are no laughing matter. But where the show’s popular AMC contemporaries temper drama with a dash of black humour, The Walking Dead does no such thing. There’s a whole lot of dark and not a lot of light.

FX, Sunday, 8.30pm.