Harry to write spoof drama

Harry Hill is to write a spoof soap opera for ITV1, starring Darren Day as a love-rat landlord.

The station has ordered a pilot episode of Xtreem Soap, which will also feature Just Good Friends star Jan Francis as his mum and John Thomson as the owner of a key-cutting booth.

It will be set in the fictional town of Waffingham and ‘revolve around the local duck pond’.

Other cast members include Paul Usher - Brookside's Barry Grant - Kate Robbins, Josie D'Arby and Karen Taylor. But Hill himself will not appear.

The show is being billed as a ‘collision of popular soap themes and characters - imagine a town where EastEnders meets Emmerdale, with a splash of Holby City and just a tiny bit of The Bill thrown in’.

Harry will be backed up by a writing team that includes Dan Maier, David Quantick, Brenda Gilhooly and Andrew Collins.

It is being made by the television arm of Avalon, the management company that looks after Hill.

Joint managing director Richard Allen-Turner said: ‘After enduring hours of the real thing for TV Burp, Harry and his team decided if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

'With the nation's soap obsession and plots becoming ever more preposterous, it seems like the right time to have some fun with the genre.’

Published: 21 Jul 2005