Ben Miller, Sarah Hadland for election comedy

Ben Miller, Hugh Dennis, Sarah Hadland and Kathleen Rose Perkins are to star in Channel’s 4 new darkly satirical sitcom Ballot Monkeys.

The highly topical 5 x 30 min series, due to broadcast during the climax of the May election, satirical look at the general election, intercutting between the various campaign buses of the four main parties – Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and UKIP.

Written by Drop The Dead Donkey and Outnumbered creators Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, the cast also includes Hattie Morahan (Outnumbered), Andy Nyman (Ghost Stories), Esther Smith (Uncle) and Rhashan Stone (The Smoke).

On each bus, we follow the fortunes of a rich collection of characters; Press officers, line managers, empathy consultants, SPADs, IT wizards, social media monitors, political analysts, interns and even bus drivers – as they crisis manage the latest dramas and developments, the very same ones that viewers will be well aware of, having only recently read about them or seen the breaking news via social media.

Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin said, “We’re very excited about this. We don’t think anyone’s done anything like this before, although we may find out why.”

Fiona McDermott, Commissioning Editor for Comedy said, “We haven’t yet decided whether we’re brave or bonkers but a real time satirical sitcom like Ballot Monkeys could only be handled by the remarkable Andy Hamilton & Guy Jenkin. We are thrilled to have them and such an amazing cast on board our buses.”

A Hat Trick production, Ballot Monkeys will begin filming one week before transmission and will draw on major themes and incidents of the campaign so far. As with the Drop The Dead Donkey editing process, Andy & Guy will leave gaps in which to insert the highly topical material at the very last minute.