FIVE brave pupils in a Darlington school took on a horde of zombies when an experiment went horribly wrong, turning normal, everyday people into flesh-eating monsters.

The students from Hurworth School were plunged into their worst nightmare when they were selected by production company, Boom Kids, to feature in an escape show for CITV.

The company invited all the schools in the UK to apply, and Hurworth was one of only eight schools selected to be part of the children’s series, ‘Project Z’.

All 141 Year 8 pupils were offered the exciting opportunity to appear in the television show, but were whittled down by a test to design a zombie trap.

The production company came to the school to screen test the 20 potential candidates who were put forward, asking them questions about how they would deal with a zombie invasion.

The five plucky Year 8 zombie-hunters, Adam Jacobs, Luke Ebdon, Grace Dye, Annabel Crumpton, Kiera Davies, were then contacted by phone to inform them that they had been selected.

“When the call came through to my mum’s phone, she didn’t recognise the number so she didn’t answer it,” said 12-year-old Grace. “So, they called my dad’s phone and when he told me I’d been chosen I was very excited.”

The school was turned into a post-apocalypse site during half-term, complete with zombie actors, and the Project Z crew had to solve a series of challenges and avoid traps, to escape before the zombies caught them.

Head of School, Nichola Peaker said: “It was a brilliant day and such a great opportunity for the pupils. The television company were so professional from start to finish, and we’re all really excited to see it when it airs.”

The result of the challenge is a closely-guarded secret until the programme is televised next spring, but all five pupils said it was a great experience that they would happily do again.