Dave orders a second series of fantasy comedy

Dave has ordered a second series of fantasy comedy Zapped, Chortle can reveal as filming began on six new episodes this week.

Inbetweeners star James Buckley will return as Brian Weaver, the office temp transported to a town, Munty, in a magical parallel universe.

Game of Thrones star Paul Kaye reprises his role as 'brain-fried' wizard Howell, with Sharon Rooney, Louis Emerick and Ken Collard also back from the initial run of three episodes that aired last year. Richard Sandling’s character Spring Leaf is also returning.

The new series will be broadcast this autumn alongside  Red Dwarf XII and the return of Taskmaster and Dave Gorman’s Modern Life is Goodish

Zapped is 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 Sue Perkins-fronted panel show Insert Name Here.

Steve Coogan is an executive producer via his production company Baby Cow. He said: ‘I am delighted that UKTV have asked us to travel back to Munty for another six episodes of complete madness. The fantastic cast will return bringing to life the imaginatively funny scripts from the Black Dog boys. I’ll be raising a large Rhubarb Seizure to celebrate!’

Richard Watsham, UKTV’s director of commissioning added: ‘We are delighted to be returning to the unique world of Munty for a full six-part series. Dave audiences immediately took to the extraordinary characters created by the fertile minds at Black Dog Television and Baby Cow, and we’re very much looking forward to finding out how Brian’s heroic quest to get home lands him in further trouble.’

The new series of Zapped will be filmed at Pinewood and again be directed by Dave Lambert, whose credits include the special Alan Partridge's Welcome To The Places Of My Life, and produced by Red Dwarf's Kerry Waddell.

The initial run of episodes also featured Sally Phillips, Ricky Grover, Jessica Ransom, Guz Khan and Brian Pern's Tony Way but guest stars in the new series have yet to be revealed.

Zapped began with above average audiences for its slot, with the first episode attracting 348,000 viewers according to overnight figures, though by the end it fell to 216,000, averaging 287,000, just short of the slot average.

By Jay Richardson

Published: 12 Apr 2017