The cast of Stephen Merchant's brand new series The Offenders has been announced - and it includes an Academy Award winning actor.
The series - which follows seven strangers from different walks of life forced together to complete a Community Payback sentence in Bristol - has just begun filming in Sunny Bank.
But Stephen Merchant isn't the only household name you'll recognise - the cast includes world class actors including none other than Pulp Fiction and Catch Me if You Can star, Christopher Walken.
In his first lead British television role, Walken becomes an offender undertaking community service in the role of Frank - an inveterate scoundrel trying to reconnect with his family.
Walken will star alongside Killing Eve's Darren Boyd and Poldark's Eleanor Tomlinson, as well as other star studded cast members and of course Merchant himself.
To get breaking news like this straight to your inbox, click here
Meet The Offenders:
- Rhianne Barreto (Honour, Hanna) plays Rani, a gifted but rebellious maths student who has been hot-housed from a young age by her loving but controlling parents
- Gamba Cole (Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle) plays Christian, a young man struggling to raise his kid sister while staying one step ahead of the Brook Hill Crew, a notorious Bristol crime gang
- Christopher Walken plays Frank, an inveterate scoundrel trying to reconnect with his family
- Stephen Merchant (The Office, Jojo Rabbit) plays Greg, a lonely lawyer coping with divorce, work-place bullying and scary men with knives
- Darren Boyd (Killing Eve, Lucky Man) plays John, a businessman and law-abiding pillar of the community furious at being labelled a criminal
- Clare Perkins (EastEnders) plays Myrna, an ageing activist and campaigner who has lost none of her youthful radicalism
- Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark, The War of the Worlds) plays Gabby, an aristocratic celebutante whose glamour and life of leisure masks deep-rooted problems
Merchant told the BBC: "Like so many other productions, we’d just begun filming when Covid-19 struck and we had to shut down.
"I’m delighted that we’re now finally able to resume filming with this incredible cast and finish this long-standing passion project. This is the first series I’ve made in my hometown of Bristol and I’m so excited to showcase the city and utilise the amazing local talent.”
Yesterday cast and crew were spotted filming on Sunny Bank in Bristol, wearing masks and 'elbow bumping.'
Bristol Live reporter Connor Gogarty, who was at the set yesterday (December 14), said: "There appeared to be an element of secrecy, as security guards used umbrellas to screen some parts of the set.
"The crew put a sloping canopy over one house's front yard. One of the home's windows was covered by black material, with a wooden ramp leading up to the property."
The series is a co-production between BBC One and Amazon Studios, and will premiere on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK and on Amazon Prime Video in the United States, Canada and Australia.
