Back in early March, I stood before 400 grinning faces at the Glasgow Film Festival, introducing Total Film’s screening of K-zombie epic Train To Busan. “Zombies have always been the perfect monster to project societal fears onto,” I said, “and all of you sitting here tonight will no doubt see the Coronavirus in each drooling mouth and ragged breath.” There was laughter, and more still when I noted that the biggest scare anyone will experience is if the person sitting next to you coughs.
Three weeks later, cinemas, like so many businesses, shuttered, and Britain was in lockdown. No-one was laughing anymore.