Plus more casting revealed

Filming has begun on Friends star Matt LeBlanc’s new BBC Two comedy-about-a-comedy.

The actor plays a version of himself in the new show, Episodes, which revolves around fraught business of taking a British comedy hit across the Atlantic.

Green Wing’s Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Grieg play the married producers of hit UK sitcom Lyman's Boys. When it is remade in America, the Shakespearean actor who starred in the original – played by Richard Griffiths – is replaced by Joey Tribbiani star LeBlanc.

The show is being made by Hat Trick, which has first-hand experience of trying to export comedy shows to the States, and will air on both BBC Two and US cable network Showtime.

Hat Trick boss Jimmy Mulville, who is one of Episodes’ producers, said last year: ‘These are some of the best scripts I've read in a long time.’

A clip of Leblanc ‘auditioning’ for the role of himself has already been released online as a teaser preview:

Published: 13 May 2010