Charlie Brooker detective spoof 'Touch of Cloth' arrives on Sky1

Published Aug 26 2011, 00:01 BST  |  By Alex Fletcher

Charlie Brooker has produced a spoof British detective show titled A Touch of Cloth for Sky1.

John Hannah, Suranne Jones, Julian Rhind-Tutt and Adrian Bower are among the cast for the classic cop show parody.

Based on Boris Starling's Messiah, Brooker and Daniel Maier (Harry Hill's TV Burp) have penned the script, which was commissioned by Sky's Head of Comedy Lucy Lumsden.



"Witty, naughty and unashamedly silly - Charlie Brooker gives the British TV detective genre a right good comedy kicking with this one-off special for Sky 1 HD," Lumsden said.

Hannah stars as DCI Jack Cloth, a maverick, heavy-drinking loner, who throws himself into work following the mysterious death of his wife, while Jones is cast as no-nonsense sidekick DC Anne Oldman. It is billed as "an all-encompassing parody of every police procedural ever written".

Produced by Zeppotron, Endemol UK's comedy and drama production arm, A Touch of Cloth is a one-off two-hour show.

Brooker said: "After you've seen A Touch of Cloth you'll never be able to watch another detective show again. Not because it's a devastating p*ss-take, but because you'll have smashed your TV to pieces in a disappointed fury."

Annabel Jones, exec producer at Zeppotron, added: "Having tackled zombies in Dead Set, A Touch of Cloth is a very funny and reliably corpse-strewn homage to the best of British cop shows.

"We're delighted to have such a wonderful cast and such a great detective in John Hannah, who we're sure will get to the bottom of things. But not too quickly, or the final 15 minutes will consist of awkward whistling."

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