Rafe Spall (Trying, The English), Jenna Coleman (The Serpent, The Sandman) and Katherine Kelly (In Flight, Mr Bates vs The Post Office) will lead the cast of Scottish Doctor Who lynchpin Steven Moffatt’s first project for Channel 4.
Produced by Hartswood Films, part of ITV Studios, and written by Moffat (Sherlock, Dracula, Inside Man), Number 10 is a comedy drama about one of the most famous addresses in the world. Spall will play the Prime Minister, Coleman his deputy chief of staff at Number 10 and Kelly his Chief of Staff.
Also joining the cast in 10 Downing Street are Akshay Khanna (Murderbot, Critical Incident), Abigail Lawrie (No Escape, The Casual Vacancy), Laura Haddock (What It Feels Like For A Girl, Downton Abbey: A New Era), Jing Lusi (Red Eye, Crazy Rich Asians), Pierro Niel-Mee (Andor, Slow Horses), Rick Warden (Happy Valley, The Sixth Commandment), Joe Wilkinson (Afterlife, The Cookfields), Robyn Cara (Trying, Rainmaker), Richard Rankin (Rebus, Outlander), Rhiannon Clements (The Power of Parker, Vera), Patrick Baladi (The Office, Line of Duty), Shaun Prendergast (Wicked, Industry), Harry Baxendale (The Radleys, Shadow and Bone), Alex Macqueen (The Feud, Seven Dials Mystery), Sid Sagar (The Batman, Slow Horses), Sam Alexander (The Jury; Murder Trial, Sister Boniface Mysteries) and Emer Kenny (Karen Pirie, The Curse).
READ MORE: Channel 4 names Sky ad chief and former Warners president as new CEO
There’s a Prime Minister in the attic, a coffee bar in the basement, and a wallpapered labyrinth of romance, crisis and heartbreak in-between. Set in “the only terrace house in history with mice and a nuclear deterrent,” it’s the only knock-through in the world where a hangover can start a war. The government will be fictional and unspecific, but the problems will be real. We’ll never know which party is in power, because once the whole world hits the fan it barely matters. This is a show about the building and everyone inside. Not just the Prime Minister upstairs, but the conspiracy theorist who runs the cafe three floors below, the man who repairs the lift that never works, the madly ambitious ‘advisors’ fighting for office space in cupboards and of course, the cat.
Number 10 is all of Britain in a house: it’s British history under one roof. It’s how we all got into the mess we’re in. It’s also our only hope of getting out of it.
Spall said: “Number 10 is a sensational piece of writing, equal to its peerless author, Steven Moffat. I’m delighted to be playing the Prime Minister, in a funny, real and thrilling piece of TV.”
Coleman added: “I thought it was about time I visited another British institution with Steven Moffat. I’m very much looking forward to moving into Number 10 with Steven’s cracking scripts and working with Sue Vertue, Ben Palmer, Rafe Spall and Katherine Kelly.”
Moffat, writer and executive producer for Hartswood Films said: “For me, it’s all about famous doors! The doors to the TARDIS, the door to 221B Baker Street, and now the most famous door in the world – Number 10. I’ve been wanting to write about the mad house that runs the madhouse for years, and I’ve never had so much fun doing the research. Other nations are ruled from mighty palaces. Britain is run from a little brick street with a big black door. If you want to do a workplace comedy drama this one is the boss of them all.
Moffatt was also full of praise for his cast: “What a cast,” he said. “My old TARDIS friend, the brilliant Jenna Coleman, Katherine Kelly, who was so amazing in the Doctor Who spinoff, Class, and at long, long last I get to work with the incredible Rafe Spall and make him Prime Minister. Britain is in safe hands.”
Commissioned for Channel 4 by Gwawr Lloyd, acting head of Channel 4 Drama, the executive producers for Hartswood Films are Steven Moffat and Sue Vertue with Lawrence Till (The Devil’s Hour, The Young Offenders) as the producer. Rachel Stone will be the co-producer. The director will be Ben Palmer (Douglas Is Cancelled, The Inbetweeners).
Number 10 is produced in association with and will be distributed by ITV Studios. Transmission details will be revealed in due course.
