New animated series for BBC3

The BBC has commissioned a new animated comedy for the launch night of BBC3.

Monkey Dust will premier on the new-look digital channel, currently BBC Choice, when it relaunches on Sunday February 9.

Six half-hour episodes of the sketch show, set in a bleak nocturnal London, have been ordered.

Characters include Chatroom Pervert, First Time Cottager and a wrongly-convicted mass murderer whose only friend is a spacehopper.

Monkey Dust also features occasional celebrity appearances from the likes of Robbie Williams, Eminem and Sven Goran Eriksson, as well as DJ Neil Fox, who dies a hideous death.

The show is being made by Talkback Productions, whose credits include Da Ali G Show and I'm Alan Partridge, and produced by Have I Got News For You's Harry Thompson.

Published: 19 Nov 2002