As Emmerdale’s likely lads Marlon Dingle and Paddy Kirk, actors Mark Charnock and Dominic Brunt provide much of the comic relief in the Yorkshire soap.

While other characters are murdering their bigamous husbands, plotting to destroy the vicar’s marriage, or getting sent down for assaulting police officers, Marlon and Paddy are more likely to be dissecting the finer details of George A Romero’s Day Of The Dead over a pint in the Woolpack.

This, says Mark, is where art and reality is blurred. Off-screen, he and Dominic are good friends, both devoted to cult cinema. Their third annual zombie film festival takes place next week, and it has gained quite a following. “People dress as zombies, with prosthetic arms hanging off. It looks like a real invasion,” says Mark.

If it was in Hotten, Marlon and Paddy would be on the front row. “Oh, they’re certainly zombie nerds,” agrees Mark. “There are occasional references in the script, and scenes with them playing gory horror games on the Xbox. This very afternoon we’re filming a scene involving a Reservoir Dogs game. Neither wants to be Mr Pink.”

As we speak, Mark is on his way to work at the Emmerdale set on the Harewood estate. He has played hapless pub chef Marlon Dingle for 14 years. As well as providing much of the comedy, he and Dominic have achieved that rare thing in soaps – a convincing, consistent friendship.

This week saw the aftermath of mild-mannered vet Paddy confiding in a concerned Marlon the reason behind his shocking beating at the hands of troubled teen Aaron. Last year, Mark and Dominic were nominated for a British Soap Award for Best Partnership. They lost out to EastEnders’ Nitin Ganatra and Nina Wadia, but fingers crossed they’ll be lifting the trophy at the 2010 soap ceremony next month.

“There’s a genuine banter between us,” says Mark. “We know what makes each other tick, the writers pick up on that.” Mark and Dominic are putting the finishing touches to their 12-hour zombie-thon; a screening of six films, with funds going to the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).

“It’s a rare chance to see these films from different eras on a big screen,” says Mark. “We’ve argued because some of our tastes differ – Dominic is into obscure stuff, and I wanted to show the old black-and-white I Walked With A Zombie which he says is too slow to engage an audience – but we love many of the same films.

“We couldn’t get rights to all the ones we wanted, but we’ve come up with Shaun Of The Dead, a classic comedy made by people who know zombie films, George A Romero’s Day Of The Dead, 28 Days Later, Burial Ground, Dead Snow and Colin.”

Special guest Marc Price, director, creator and writer of budget zombie masterpiece Colin, will introduce the movie, followed by a question-and-answer session.

Mark has been a horror fan since childhood. “I was fascinated by ghost stories, then video nasties. It’s human nature to face our fears, whether it’s going on a roller-coaster or watching a horror movie from behind the sofa.”

Talking to Mark about zombies is like having a crash course. To the untrained eye, they’re groaning pale-skinned monsters with bulging eyes, but it turns out they’ve had quite a socio-political significance over the past eight decades.

It started with the Halperin Brothers’ White Zombie in 1932. “In Depression-hit America, zombies symbolised a powerless workforce – blankfaced unemployment lines of ‘undead’,” says Mark.

Hollywood churned out countless zombie movies during the Thirties but, in 1968, the genre changed forever with Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead. These zombies were friends and neighbours of the living.

“Handheld cameras created a documentary feel. Nothing was left to the imagination,” says Mark, whose favourite zombie movie is Romero’s 1978 Dawn Of The Dead, “a post-Vietnam comment on consumerism and racism.”

Zombies played a role in Bradford landing City of Film status. Contemporary zombie film Cinema Of Horror, partly-filmed at Cartwright Hall, was supported by Bradford Council during the bidding process, enabling Manningham-born producer Peter Kershaw to complete post-production and screen the film. It was later shown at Bradford Film Festival.

Mark says City of Film has spin-off benefits region-wide. “There’s a lot to offer film-makers here, a diverse landscape lending something to a range of movie genres.”

Current horror trends appear to draw on vampires or post-apocalyptic despair. Mark isn’t keen: “You don’t get that handheld, raw feel with today’s big budget horror movies,” he says. “They’ve lost the tension, the unbearable, almost believable quality. There have been several remakes of big horror films of the 1970s, like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Amityville Horror, but while they’re slick, they’ve lost the essence of the early films. They’re made purely for the money.”

Emmerdale is on ITV from Monday to Friday, 7pm. The Zombie Film Festival is at the Cottage Road Cinema, Headingley, on Sunday, April 25. For more information visit leedszombiefilmfestival.com. For more about WSPA, visit wspa.org.uk.