Starring Inbetweener James Buckley

Inbetweeners actor James Buckley is to star in a new fantasy comedy for the Dave channel.

Zapped! will also feature Paul Kaye from Game of Thrones,  plus a guest appearance from Steve Coogan, whose company Baby Cow is making the show.

In the series, which goes into production this month, Buckley plays Weaver, an online data marketing assistant who finds himself abruptly transported to a parallel world. 

There he meets the bar owner Herman (Louis Emerick from Benidorm) plus a bunch of irregular regulars: Barbara, a hopeless soothsayer played by Sharon Rooney from My Mad Fat Diary; Steg, an armchair revolutionary played by  Ken Collard from Cuckoo; and Howell, a ‘brain-fried wizard’ played by Kaye.

The broadcaster says the world is ‘full of psychopathic fairies, Shell Men, seductive Demi-Fins, vicious Throcks and the frighteningly unpredictable side-effects of Howell’s magical powers’.

Zapped! has been written by Dan Gaster, one of the core writing team on Have I Got News For You, with his regular collaborators Will Ing and Paul Powell. The trio, who have a production comedy Black Dog Television, also created the recent Sue Perkins fronted panel show Insert Name Here.

Coogan, who is also an executive producer on the new show, said: ‘Zapped!  is fantasy, heightened reality, lots of escapism, with one foot firmly in the real world. 

‘It has all the requisite elements to take the audience on a journey to this slightly mad world; from wizards and spells to mermaids, psychopathic fairies, smartphones and then back to the boring office job. We have a great cast on board, led by the brilliant James Buckley.’

Dave has commissioned three 40-minute episode, in keeping with parent company UKTV’s policy of trying out new comedies with shorter runs.

The episodes will air on Dave this autumn, launching off the back of the new series Red Dwarf XI. Both shows share a producer in Kerry Waddell.

Simon Lupton, UKTV’s senior commissioning editor, said: ‘It has already been loads of fun collaborating with the writers as they created this fantastical world and array of extraordinary characters.  We know that the Dave audience loves their comedy to give them big laughs and offer escapism in a bold, joyful and distinctive way – and we really believe Zapped!  will do that.  

‘The scripts have a wonderful blend of great storytelling and humour, combined with an extremely high-quality cast and director.’

Dave Lambert, who previously worked on Undercover and Alan Partridge: Welcome To The Places Of My Life is that director. 
 

Published: 6 Jun 2016