We may be waiting quite a while for Mitchell and Webb to return to Peep Show but in the mean time co-creators Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong have managed to nab both Danny Boyle and James Nesbitt for their next big Channel 4 project.
Comedy-drama Babylon will see Nesbitt starring as a London police chief who faces a bit of a tough time when PR Executive Liz Garvey (played by Arbitrage star Brit Marling) arrives into town from the USA in order to give the Metropolitan Police a bit of a kick up the backside in terms of their public image.
Peep Show fans will no doubt spot Paterson Joseph among the supporting cast: He plays deputy police commissioner Charles Inglis, while Jill Halfpenny (of EastEnders fame) is Territorial Support Group officer Dana. Daniel Kaluuya (Skins), Adam Deacon (Dead Set), Jonny Sweet (Chickens), Bertie Carvel (Hidden) and Andrew Brooke (Phone Shop) complete the line-up.
Boyle will direct the pilot episode, which is expected to air in early 2014, but he need not worry about making the grade. Channel 4's already convinced that the show will do well and has ordered a six-part series in advance. We're sure that's a rather big vote of confidence for Armstrong and Bain.
"We're excited to be writing about the action-packed yet fiercely political world of modern policing," the Peep Show creators said. "Crime solving receives a lot of attention on TV.What excited us as we all developed the show with Danny and Robert (Jones, executive producer) was looking above and below that level - the comedy and drama of on the street police-public interactions, and life in the upper reaches of the police."
