Johnny Vegas and Sian Gibson returning with more murder mysteries
- Channel Gold has ordered Murder They Hope, expanding the comedy dramas into a mini-series
- The three episodes follow Murder On The Blackpool Express, Death On The Tyne and Dial M For Middlesbrough
- Written by Jason Cook, Sian Gibson and Johnny Vegas reprise their roles as amateur sleuths Gemma and Terry
Johnny Vegas and Sian Gibson have reunited for more comedy murder mysteries on Gold, this time in a three-part series, British Comedy Guide can reveal.
Murder They Hope finds Gemma and Terry seemingly turning their back on their coach tour business to become fully-fledged private detectives, in a trilogy of adventures once again written by comedian Jason Cook (Hebburn).
The three 60-minute episodes, set to air next year, are the latest instalment in Cook's Agatha Christie-inspired whodunnit franchise, the Draper's Tours Mysteries, following the individual features Murder On The Blackpool Express (2017), Death On The Tyne (2018) and Dial M For Middlesbrough (2019), each with an all-star cast.
"It's going to be amazing to be back with Terry and Gemma and this time for a series!" said Cook "Having multiple episodes has really let us go to town in creating a world of eccentric characters and big adventures for my favourite ex-coach driving detectives!"
The supporting cast for Murder They Hope will be announced later this year.
Given their experiences solving cases that mysteriously fall into their laps, Gemma and Terry are confident that it won't be long before they get the chance to put their skills to the test. Sadly, new cases don't come rolling in and the duo find themselves moving in with Gemma's sister Monica and praying business picks up soon.
Sure enough, the first case that hops into their laps comes via a local car boot sale, where a mysterious red eyed rabbit figurine causes a bidding war and attracts the attention of the dreaded, but appropriately named, Bunnyman.
Episode 2 sees Gemma and Terry heroically graduate from bunnies to bakers, when they are tasked with getting to the bottom of poisoned pastry scandal as two rival baking families turn up the heat on a long-standing feud.
The final instalment of the trilogy sees the intrepid duo lured back into their old world of coach tours as they help the local police in a county-wide hunt for a bus-based serial killer.
Made by Shiny Button (King Gary, Murder In Successville), Murder They Hope was commissioned by UKTV's head of scripted Pete Thornton and ordered by Gerald Casey, channel director for Gold.
Produced by Mollie Freedman Berthoud, the lead director is Ed Bye, with the second episode directed by Adam Jenkins.
Thornton says: "It's a huge pleasure to be bringing fans of this much-loved series not one but three brand new adventures for our fearless, and generally clueless, heroes Terry and Gemma this year. Each story is very different in its own way, but they are all busting with Jason Cook's trademark mixture of a satisfying 'whodunnit' with proper laugh out loud comedy.
"We're very excited to be bringing Johnny Vegas, Sian Gibson and the brilliant creative team at Shiny Button back together for this new series and we can't wait to see the fruits of their labours."
Casey added: "We're thrilled to be branching out into this three-parter, as the feature-length episodes have been such a huge hit with Gold's audience. Jason Cook keeps on serving up the goods."