Filming starts on new BBC Three sitcom Top Coppers
The BBC has announced that production is now under way on Top Coppers, a spoof police comedy series for BBC Three.
The comedy will revolve around two of the stars of the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. John Kearns, the winner of the Edinburgh Comedy Award for best show, will play Mitch Rust; with Australian character comedian Steen Raskopoulos (pictured), who was a best newcomer nominee at the Fringe festival, cast as John Mahogany.
Top Coppers is described as "a spoof police comedy series featuring the finest and weirdest detectives in the Justice City Police Department".
Set in the colourful and fictional world of Justice City, the show follows the adventures of Mahogany and Rust, as they attempt to rid the city of its deranged criminal underworld.
Overseen by Trollied and Cuckoo producers Roughcut Television, the six-part series is due to be shown on BBC Three later this year.
Other actors involved in the series include Donovan Blackwood (Casualty) as the brow-beaten Chief of Police; Gabby Best (Winner of the Funny Women Award 2012) as forensics expert Helga; newcomer Rio Myers as computer boffin Zach; and Mighty Boosh star Rich Fulcher as Grady, the corrupt mayor of Justice City.
A range of established comedy stars have been booked to make cameo appearances as the show's villains. They include Kayvan Novak (Fonejacker), Paul Ritter (Friday Night Dinner), James Fleet (The Vicar Of Dibley), Terry Mynott (The Mimic), Simon Farnaby (Horrible Histories), Adam Riches (Detectorists), Lydia Rose Bewley (Plebs), Jessica Gunning (Quick Cuts) and Danny John-Jules (Red Dwarf).
Top Coppers has been created by Cein McGillicuddy and Andy Kinnear. The format has been in development for a number of years, with a taster tape to test the idea first created in 2006.
A full pilot was filmed a couple of years ago, with at that time Irish comedian Conor McKenna in the role of John Mahogany alongside Kearns as Mitch Rust.
The full TV series will be directed by McGillicuddy, who has previously worked on Star Stories and Made In Chelsea.
Chris Sussman from the BBC says: "I couldn't be more excited about Top Coppers. John Kearns and Steen Raskopoulos are two of the most exciting young comedians around, and the scripts are some of the funniest I've read in ages. It's fast-paced and brilliantly silly, and I don't know anyone who won't love it."