Channel 4 has unleashed the first trailer for Dead Pixels, an upcoming comedy-drama for E4 that takes place in the real world and a virtual one. Here’s the trailer, and an a bit of an explainer…

Dead Pixels is described in Channel 4’s official announcement of the show as an “unusual mix of on-screen live-action and computer animation”, which is “split equally between the characters real lives and their online domain inside [a game called] Kingdom Scrolls.”

Jon Brown (who previously worked on Loaded, Fresh Meat and Veep) is writing the series, which is based on a 2016 short that he made. Alexa Davies, David Mumeni, Will Merrick, Sargon Yelda  and Charlotte Ritchie make up the main cast.

Six 30-minute episodes are on the way, and you can watch the Dead Pixels trailer right here…

And here’s the lengthy synopsis from Channel 4’s announcement…

Dead Pixels centres on mates Meg, Nicky and Usman, whose world revolves around their obsession for the massively popular fantasy RPG Kingdom Scrolls – a mystical, magical and, more importantly, virtual world of wizards and wyverns….

However in real life Meg and Nicky work in an office. They are not sure what Usman does for a living (though apparently it’s also something responsible and probably something involving spreadsheets). But they all have their priorities straight, especially Usman…. If Castle Blackfinger needs defending from a bunch of marauding orks then grabbing a decent night’s sleep would not only be selfish, it would be downright irresponsible.

Unless you’re Jase, the new guy at Meg’s office. It’s not that Jase is a bit annoying, it’s just he’s just a total noob, which makes him incredibly f*cking annoying, except if you’re Meg. Meg isn’t in attract mode for Nicky and Nicky DEFINITELY isn’t in attract mode for Meg. That would be a cliché. Nothing will EVER happen between them, not in this world, or in Kingdom Scrolls…. Although Meg might be in attract mode for Jase, when he’s not being annoying – which is most of the time.

Dead Pixels is “coming soon” to E4, and we’ll be sure to keep you posted as we hear more.