Sky bolsters original comedy line-up

In the Long Run is renewed

Sky in the UK has commissioned a trio of original comedy series fronted by talent including Idris Elba, David Walliams, Johnny Vegas, Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc.

The Sky original productions include comedies Hitmen (working title), starring  Perkins and Giedroyc, and The Queen & I, starring Walliams and Samantha Bond, plus a second season of  Elba-created In the Long Run. A range of seven new comedy shorts will also join the line-up.

Hitmen is a six-parter from Endemol Shine-owned Tiger Aspect Productions about two best friends trying to make their way in the world while also working as professional assassins. It is the first scripted comedy project for the former hosts of The Great British Bake Off.

Hitmen is written by Joe Parham and Joe Markham and will premiere on Sky1 in 2019. The producer will be Arnold Widdowson and the executive producers will be Myfanwy Moore and Siobhan Bachman.

The Queen & I is a 90-minute Christmas special based on the novel by Sue Townsend. Walliams’ King Bert Productions is producing, with the plot following the dethroned British Queen as she adjusts to life in modern day Britain after the monarchy is dismantled.

The show is written by Stephen Russell, directed by Dan Zeff and produced by Margot Gavan Duffy. Executive producers are Jo Sargent and Walliams for King Bert.

The Long Run is getting a second season next year after its successful first run earlier this year. The series, created and produced by Elba and his Green Door Pictures and produced with Gina Carter of Sprout Pictures, is loosely based on Elba’s own childhood and explores life growing up on an estate in 1980s London.