Joanna Scanlan to star in C4 comedy No Offence
Channel 4 has revealed casting details of its new comedy series from the creator of Shameless, Paul Abbott.
Due to be broadcast in 2015, police comedy No Offence will star Getting On's Joanna Scanlan, Hunderby's Alexandra Roach, and Irish actress Elaine Cassidy.
The 8-part series will also feature male leads Colin Salmon (Some Girls), Will Mellor (Two Pints) and Paul Ritter (Friday Night Dinner), making up a mix of "tough but big-hearted bobbies who go above and beyond to bring down the criminal rabble in a crumbling cop-shop".
Channel 4 say of the series: "Keeping these streets clean is a Herculean task, enough to demoralise even the keenest rookie - but there's a reason why this hotchpotch of committed cops are on this force, on this side of town. Drug labs, arsonists, neo-Nazis and notorious murderers are all in a day's work for this close-knit team, led by the dizzyingly capable but unquestionably unhinged DI Vivienne Deering (Scanlan). But when a particularly twisted serial killer emerges it leaves even the most hardened of these seasoned coppers reeling.
"Flanked by her right-hand women - the compassionate but impulsive DC Dinah Kowalska (Cassidy) and the recently (surprisingly) promoted DS Joy Freers (Roach) - Deering and her team must crack this case by whatever unconventional means possible. Because amidst all the assorted low life; the pimps, the petty thieves, and downright nasty bastards they've dealt with, this will be their most disturbing case yet, one that will touch their lives in ways they could never expect."
Originally expected to transmit later in 2014, the series is currently filming on location in Manchester and will be seen on screens next year, consisting of a 75-minute premiere and seven further hour-long episodes.
Creator and writer Paul Abbott says: "No Offence is a precinct cop drama. It's also one of the funniest things I've ever been allowed to put together. It doesn't look like anything else. No Offence's cake mix is as bipolar as they get - it lurches from jet black laugh-out-loud, into fragile material on the turn of a sixpence. Writing three strong female leads is one thing. Writing women that men would choose as leaders has been particularly satisfying."
Produced by his own company, AbbottVision, the series is being directed by David Kerr and Catherine Morshead.
Scanlan will shortly be seen on screen reprising her role in David Walliams's BBC One comedy series Big School, and on BBC Four alongside fellow Getting On writer and star Vicki Pepperdine in Puppy Love.
Following a successful pilot broadcast in February, Channel 4 are also set to launch a full series of another police comedy drama series, Babylon, later this year, whilst Sky1's spoof police procedural A Touch Of Cloth returns next weekend for a third comic case.