Sky Arts to make a series of slapstick comedies
Sky Arts is to broadcast four one-off silent comedies with slapstick at their heart, all of which will star well-known actors.
Brilliantman! (pictured) is a comedy that sees Kevin Eldon playing Ian Hedge, a very ordinary man who sees himself as a secret superhero with a mission to protect the distressed and vulnerable.
Single and living in a rented room with his landlord, Ian works 'undercover' as a council worker and spends the days walking the streets of the city in a high viz jacket holding a trundle wheel, with his costume ready to go in his backpack. Whenever he sees trouble on his wanderings, he leaps into action, and does his utmost to save the day. But he always fails.
Hedge's landlady Mrs Wardle, who lives with her aggressive parrot, is played by Johnny Vegas.
The half-hour episode sees Brilliantman tangle with a variety of local characters including a mugger and a burglar. Sky says: "With the best intentions in the world, what our caped crusader lacks in dynamism, he more than makes up for with sheer incompetence."
Production company What Larks adds: "Brilliantman! brilliantly showcases Kevin Eldon's talent for creating unorthodox and endearing characters, and focusses heavily on the physical aspect of his comedy."
Ruby Robinson features Kim Cattrall, the Sex And The City star who can currently be seen on Sky Arts in the US remake of Sensitive Skin. Overseen by Psychoville and Man Down director Matt Lipsey, the comedy drama focuses on Ruby, who lives in a huge, isolated and dilapidated house with a troupe of unusual acrobat helpers that she has come to take for granted.
She yearns for the company of her nephew and his family but a visit from them spells trouble for Ruby, who comes to learn to appreciate that the people who truly love her are right under her nose.
Sky says: "Ruby Robinson features some seemingly impossible physical feats and tells an unusual comic morality tale." It was written by Mike Wozniak who plays the scheming nephew; his sadistic wife is played by Cariad Lloyd.
Three Kinds Of Stupid, written by Chris Reddy, is being dubbed a "Three Stooges-style physical comedy". It follows the adventures of three community police officers who befriend a blind man. Marek Larwood, Jocelyn Jee Esien and Seann Walsh play the law enforcement team, with Vic Reeves (pictured) as the blind man.
When one of the officers accidentally kills the blind man's guide dog with a prawn sandwich, the trio have to go to elaborate ends to convince him his dog is still alive and well.
Rotters - described as "blending Oceans 11 with Dumb And Dumber" - stars Frank Skinner as an antiques dealer who must fend off a gang of robbers who attempt to steal from his auction house. Luckily the team of crooks are idiots, and the auction house is well guarded with complex security devices. The one-off silent comedy has been written by Oliver Lansley.
Continually stepping on each other's toes, the motley crew - played by stand-ups Phil Burgers (aka Doctor Brown), John Kearns, Sam Simmons, Lolly Adefope and Daniel Simonsen - battle against a dazzling array of security devices, a meddlesome traffic warden (Pat Cahill) and their own incompetence in this "action-packed slapstick riot of a show".
Speaking about the four shows, Phil Edgar-Jones from Sky Arts says: "There's no finer sight in life than someone bumping into something. This was the starting point for our brand new physical comedy season on Sky Arts. Luckily the brilliant comic talent who signed up to make four top notch one-offs all had a rather more sophisticated view of what a silent comedy should be."
He added: "We are thrilled that Frank Skinner, Vic Reeves, Johnny Vegas, Kevin Eldon, Seann Walsh and Kim Cattrall (amongst a host of others) will be entertaining our equally sophisticated customers with their versions of knockabout fun."
Brilliantman!, Ruby Robinson, Three Kinds Of Stupid and Rotters are currently in production. A selection of the comedies will be screened at the Cat Laughs Comedy Festival in Kilkenny next month, before being broadcast on Sky Arts later in the year.