Focussing on EU referendum and Donald Trump

Channel 4 has commissioned the team behind ultra-topical 2015 election comedy Ballot Monkeys to make a new series.

Power Monkeys will revolve around the two major global elections of 2016: the Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign.

Again written by Outnumbered creators Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, much of the topical political comedy will be filmed on the day of transmission to ensure it mirrors real world political events. 

And the broadcaster says that, like its predecessor, Power Monkeys will show ‘the absurd panic and machinations of all the backstage teams involved in last-minute political shenanigans’.

Two of the six episodes will bookend June’s Brexit referendum, one detailing the last-minute tensions the day before the election and another the following day as the dust settles.

Phil Clarke, head of Channel 4 comedy said: ‘I’m delighted to announce that I have no idea what the content of this series will be. It will be satirical, highly topical, and filmed at the last minute. It’s exactly the type of show we should be making.’

Hamilton and Jenkin added: ‘We’re very excited to be back on C4, visiting backstage worlds where we can watch besieged teams of characters trying to cope with the whims, mistakes and egos of the powerful.’

Ballot Monkeys starred Hugh Dennis, Ben Miller, Daisy Haggard and others as backroom political campaigners – although no casting for Power Monkeys has yet been announced.

The news comes on the same day that the BBC announced that Jack Dee’s HelpDesk will return for three referendum-themed editions.

Published: 9 May 2016