If you’ve avoided vampire/zombie television until now because you think it’s either dumb sci-fi or drippy romance aimed at teenagers, “In the Flesh,” a three-part mini-series that begins Thursday on BBC America, gives you a chance to find out just how well written and layered some of these shows are.

Fans of series like “The Walking Dead” on AMC already know that the genre at its best isn’t about eating flesh or biting necks; it’s about people and not-quite-people who face challenges and decisions that resonate in the real world. “In the Flesh” may have vacant-eyed living corpses in it, but it’s about tolerance and intolerance, forgiveness and family.

The story takes place in a Britain where, some time before the series begins, thousands of dead people have risen from their graves, wreaking havoc and causing a virulent anti-zombie backlash. But these beings, who suffer from — as it has been labeled — partially deceased syndrome, have fallen under a government protective order. With the help of new medications they are being reintroduced into human society.

One of them is a teenager named Kieren (Luke Newberry) whose village, Roarton, is a particular hotbed of anti-zombie sentiment. A militia patrols in search of the undead, and few residents are welcoming the return of the partially deceased. Kieren faces resistance in his own home: his sister (Harriet Cains) is an enthusiastic soldier in the militia.