Sky Re-commissions: ‘Little Crackers’, ‘Starlings’, ‘A Touch of Cloth’ and ‘Moone Boy’

Sky1 Renews four of its shows.

Amongst the news of the raft of new commissions Sky 1 HD has also announced it has renewed four of its existing shows: Little Crackers, Starlings, A Touch of Cloth and Moone Boy..

Little Crackers will be back for a third series this Christmas and this time each Little Cracker will run for 30 minutes that will comprise both the story and a 10 minute behind the scenes look at its journey to the screen. The BAFTA nominated strand will again feature the UK’s most popular actors, writers and comedians in a series of one-off autobiographical tales.

Those confirmed so far are Katy Brand (The Katy Brand Show), Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous), who will be both starring and directing her Little Cracker, Jason Manford (8 out of 10 Cats), Paul O’Grady (The Paul O’Grady Show)and Alison Steadman (Gavin & Stacey), with further names to be announced this Autumn.

Starlings will be returning to Sky1 HD for an 8 x 60 second series in 2013. The cast starred Brendan Coyle and Lesley Sharp, plus Alan Williams, Finn Atkins, John Dagleish, Rebecca Night and Ukweli Roach.

The comedy drama is written by and starring Matt King (Peep Show) and Steve Edge (Star Stories), Starlings is executive produced by Baby Cow Production’s Henry Normal and Steve Coogan and produced by Alison MacPhail (The Mighty Boosh).

Viewers can also look forward to a further two more cases for DCI Jack Cloth to solve as Charlie Brooker’s A Touch of Cloth will return. The first in the trilogy is set to launch this August and the second 2 x 60 series has commenced filming with transmission set for next year and a further 1 x 120 film will follow. John Hannah and Suranne Jones will resume their roles as DCI Jack Cloth and DC Anne Oldman respectively. An all-encompassing parody of every police procedural ever written, A Touch of Cloth also stars Julian Rhind-Tutt, Adrian Bower, Navin Chowdhry and Daisy Beaumont with further guest stars to be announced.

A Touch of Cloth is a Zeppotron production, executive produced by Annabel Jones and Charlie Brooker, directed by Jim O’Hanlon (House of Saddam, Emma), and produced by Adam Tandy (The Thick of It, Come Fly With Me).

Chris O’Dowd’s Moone Boy, the first series of which launches this Autumn, has also been greenlit for a second 6 x 30 run. Set in a small town in Ireland in 1989 it follows the antics of the youngest member of the Moone family, 11 year old Martin Moone (David Rawle). Martin has a unique perspective on life aided by his imaginary friend, Sean Murphy (Chris O’Dowd). Martin’s imagination comes into play both in his childish drawings, which come alive through animation, and in the ridiculous schemes he comes up with, against Sean’s better judgement. With Sean’s help, Martin negotiates life as the youngest in a chaotic, scatter-brained family. Johnny Vegas, Steve Coogan and Jessica Hynes also all take guest roles.

A joint venture between Baby Cow, Sprout Films, Hot Cod Productions and Grand Pictures, Moone Boy is co-written by Chris O’Dowd and Nick Vincent Murphy. The series is directed by Declan Lowney (Little Britain, Father Ted, Help, Happiness, Cold Feet) and produced by Ted Dowd (Gavin & Stacey, Nighty Night, Saxondale). Executive Producers are Henry Normal, Gina Carter, Paul Donovan and Chris O’Dowd.

Lucy Lumsden said “Sky 1 HD now has a reputation for delivering viewers the very best in original British comedy. Seeing these shows and characters over the past year received so warmly has been very exciting. We are thrilled that our comedies have quickly become established as favourites with our customers and so we’re delighted to announce today the return of more of the shows they love.”