Channel 4 is launching Apocalypse, an eight-part reality series in which 16 contestants must survive for a month in an abandoned town after a fictional, unexplained catastrophe, with no essential supplies provided. A Guardian writer visited the set during filming to undergo a shortened version of the contestants' survival training and explore the location before the show's broadcast, offering insight into how the format was designed to feel less contrived than typical reality TV.

The show was filmed at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center, a thousand-acre former military and police training site near Cincinnati, redressed as the fictional town of "Riverside" with hundreds of detailed, ransacked buildings including a hospital, school and bus station. Unlike Big Brother-style productions, there are no fixed cameras; a small team of producer-directors lives among participants to film events as they unfold. Series producer Jake Smith scattered both practical items and quirky surprises around the site, including a candy floss machine, a disco ball, Christmas crackers, a record player with a single Abba record, and $200 in cash by a broken ATM, intending to prompt unscripted moments of humour and discussion rather than staged challenges. Contestants receive three days of preparation before entering the simulation, and unlike many reality formats, there is no prize money or elimination process.