John Hannah

John Hannah: 'We're all sick of cop shows!'

John Hannah stars in Sky1's new spoof cop show A Touch of Cloth next week. Here, John talks about playing it straight...

John Hannah interview

Brief interview with A Touch Of Cloth star John Hannah.

Charlie Brooker is back and this time he's sent up your favourite detective series in two-part spoof A Touch of Cloth, which we here at Digital Spy already consider to be one of the funniest shows of the year.

John Hannah and Suranne Jones play DCIs Jack Cloth and Anne Oldman respectively, two coppers trying to connect the dots as series of murders take place in their alien world of c**k jokes, cringeworthy puns and incestuous corpse romancing. It's silly, silly stuff - maybe too silly for some - but the gags per-min rate is far above anything else on television right now. We promise you, something in A Touch of Cloth is bound to make you smile, even if you hate yourself for doing so.

John Hannah interview

John Hannah adds a touch of cliché to Charlie Brooker's new show.

Radio Times review

"The motivation behind A Touch of Cloth was simple," writes the show's creator Charlie Brooker. "Along with my co-writer, TV Burp's Dan Maier, I wanted to create the silliest programme we could muster, but disguise it as the most serious. Writing this was a joy: we all sat round a table attacking our favourite clichés and lobbing in as many extra gags as possible."

The result is a deadpan spoof of detective shows like Messiah and Luther, starring John Hannah as DI Jack Cloth and Suranne Jones as DC Anne Oldman. Expect lots of moody glances, disturbing flashbacks, gruesome crime scenes, and bits where a maverick cop battles with demons. Inner demons, not actual outer demons, obviously. Inner demons are cheaper to shoot - you don't need CGI.