After breaking into a primate research facility, a group of animal rights activists discover caged
chimps chained up before banks of screens displaying horrifically violent images. Ignoring the warnings of
the terrified researcher who maintains the chimps are ‘infected’, they begin to
free the animals and are
immediately subjected to a bloody attack from the enraged creatures.
28 days later… Cycle courier Jim (Cillian
Murphy) awakes from a coma in the deserted intensive
care
unit of a
London hospital. Mystified, he wanders the wards and corridors in search of others and
eventually heads into the city streets, calling out for help. As the shadows lengthen Jim seeks shelter in a
church only to find dead bodies piled in heaps on the chapel floor. A sudden noise alerts him to the
presence of a priest but his lightening speed, blood stained eyes and murderous screams send Jim reeling
into the street. More “infected” are attracted by the noise and Jim runs in panic and confusion as a growing
flock sprint after him through the
dark streets.
A sudden explosion from a makeshift
bomb heralds the arrival of fellow “survivors” Selena
(NAOMIE HARRIS) and Mark (NOAH HUNTLEY). Following a daring rescue they take Jim to safety and
start to explain to him the nature of the infection, that it is transmitted in the blood, is overwhelming within
seconds, that Britain has been overrun and that they have no way of knowing if it has spread worldwide.
Selena and Mark reluctantly agree to help the shell-shocked Jim return
home to Deptford to find his
parents, with terrifying consequences. Later, as they sneak through the darkened streets, Selena and Jim
spot a lone light in a tower
block and investigate to see if there are other survivors. The unlikely pair they
3
find are
father and daughter Frank (BRENDAN GLEESON) and
Hannah (MEGAN BURNS) whose
water
supplies are running dangerously low and are desperate to find alternative shelter.
As the group takes shelter in the tower block, an automated radio broadcast is picked up. A
Manchester-
based group of soldiers, led by Major Henry
West (CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON), claim to
have the ‘answer’ to infection and invite any survivors to join them at their blockade. Faced with no
practical alternative, the group sets out northwards in Frank’s black cab unaware that the worst is yet to
come.