Channel 4 has given the greenlight to Ballot Monkeys, a topical political sitcom created by the team behind Drop The Dead Donkey.

Dubbed "so topical it's not written yet", the show is being overseen by writers Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, the creators of Outnumbered and the long-running hit newsroom sitcom Drop The Dead Donkey.

Channel 4 is aiming for the show to be "highly topical" with the five part series scheduled to be broadcast during the climax of this May's election. Filming will begin just one week before transmission to allow the show to draw on and reference the major themes and incidents occurring in the real-life political campaigns.

The writers, alongside producers Hat Trick, already have experience of working like this. Between 1990 and 1998 they made over 60 episodes of Drop The Dead Donkey for Channel 4, with some elements of each episode written just before filming to allow for topical news events to be referred to.

Talking about Ballot Monkeys, Channel 4 confirm: "As with the Drop The Dead Donkey editing process, Andy and Guy will leave gaps in which to insert the highly topical material at the very last minute."

Ballot Monkeys will intercut between the various campaign buses of the four main parties - Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and UKIP.

Channel 4 explain: "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."

Actors involved in the show include Ben Miller, who will play a 'ground down' campaign co-ordinator for the Liberal Democrats; Sarah Hadland, who will be a UKIP office support manager who has an inflated notion of her abilities; Hugh Dennis, playing a heavily overworked Tory campaign manager; and Episodes star Kathleen Rose Perkins as an American field strategist working for the Labour team.

Other actors involved in the show include Trevor Cooper (Trevor's World Of Sport), Hattie Morahan (Welcome To Our Village, Please Invade Carefully), Andy Nyman (Campus), Esther Smith (Cockroaches) and Rhashan Stone (Horrible Histories).

Talking about preparing to film the episodes as the election process unfolds around them, Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin say: "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 from Channel 4 adds: "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 and Guy Jenkin. We are thrilled to have them and such an amazing cast on board our buses."

The series will be directed by Andy Hamilton, Guy Jenkin, Paul Schlesinger and Jimmy Mulville.

Ballot Monkeys is expected to start on Channel 4 on Tuesday 21st April.

For further details on the characters involved in the show, see our guide: