Santa Clarita Diet: Why Drew Barrymore's new series isn't to everyone's taste

Drew Barrymore has a gory new comedy series on Netflix called Santa Clarita Diet. Here's what it's about and what the critics are saying:

What's it about?

The ten-episode series is a twisted spoof of contemporary Californian lifestyles. It tells the story of successful Santa Clarita real-estate couple Sheila (Barrymore) and Joel Hammond (Timothy Olyphant) whose lives take a sinister turn when Sheila develops a sudden taste for raw meat, preferably human.

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Between killing people, Sheila and Joel sell ranch houses with plush-carpeted rooms.

It soon becomes clear to daughter Abby (Liv Hewson) that her mother is a zombie, but the family rally around, despite the suspicions of their neighbour, paranormal expert Eric (Skyler Gisondo).

The series was created by Victor Fresco, the brains behind Better Off Ted, a satire about the employee of an evil technology company that creates killer robots.

What do the critics think?

Santa Clarita Diet is a treat for a very specific sense of humour, but it is "B-movie camp" and won't work for everyone, warns Sonia Saraiya at Variety.

She praises Barrymore and Olyphant for committing with "deadpan brilliance to the ridiculous story" and says the surprising plot is genuinely great - because Santa Clarita is "unafraid to dabble in gore, murder or high school drama, the show is capable of moving in a lot of different directions" and nails its "strange marriage of tone, content, and performance".

Erik Adams at AV Club says Santa Clarita Diet balances its supernatural mystery story with "down-to-earth plots that could apply to any family dealing with a recent trauma".

It's also a return to Barrymore's roots, he adds. Though not quite a Winona-Ryder-Stranger-Things moment, it's reminiscent of the actor's early roles as "a deceptively dangerous force" - and clearly she's having a good time in the role, he says.

You can put Santa Clarita Diet next to "anything from the back of your local Blockbuster and it will hold its own", says Kaitlyn Tiffany at The Verge. "There are blood spurts and barfed-up organs. It is campy, and some people are into that."

But Issy Sampson at The Guardian says: "Ultimately, Santa Clarita Diet's one joke is basically: isn't it crazy that we're murderers and realtors?"

And for anyone who has experienced the UK property market recently, she adds, "the idea that estate agents are cold-hearted killers who'd eat you to sell a house isn't all that funny".

When is it on?

The first season of Santa Clarita Diet is available on Netflix from 3 February.