Steve Coogan joins Craig Cash Sitcom

Just found this from The Guardian Online.Looks like Steve Coogan is taking Peter Kay's place. Here it is:

Comedian Steve Coogan is to star as a gambling addict in a new BBC1 comedy drama co-written by Craig Cash.

Coogan, the star of the BBC2 comedies Saxondale and I'm Alan Partridge, will play Bing, a family man with a gambling problem in the feelgood three-part drama Sunshine.

Bernard Hill, the veteran Boys From The Black Stuff actor who starred as King Theoden of Rohan in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, will play Bing's father, George.

Lisa Millett, whose credits include BBC1 drama Blackpool, will play Bing's wife Bernadette.

Cash also directs and stars in the drama, which he has written with his long-term writing partner, Phil Mealey.

Sunshine is the first commission for the pair's independent production company, Jellylegs.

Cash and Mealey scripted the BBC2 comedy Early Doors and the Bafta award winning Royle Family - Queen of Sheba special for BBC1.

Mealey also appears in the new BBC1 comedy drama along Dan Ryan, Rita May, Lorraine Cheshire, Joan Kempson and Geoffrey Hutchings. Newcomer Dominic Senior plays Bing and Bernadette's eight-year-old son Joe.

"Suffused with warmth and laughter, Sunshine is above all a heart-warming story about how when you reach rock bottom the only thing that matters are the people you love," a BBC spokeswoman said.

Filming has already begun on the drama on location near Stockport and in Salford. Sunshine is due to be shown on BBC1 this autumn.

Sunshine is the first project to be made by Jellylegs and is being executive produced by Nicola Shindler, the chief executive of the independent production company Red.

Shindler also worked as a script consultant on Early Doors, which was made by another independent, Ovation Entertainment.

Sunshine was commissioned for the BBC by the comedy controller, Lucy Lumsden, and the BBC fiction controller, Jane Tranter.

Lumsden said: "With the combined talents of Craig Cash, Phil Mealey and Steve Coogan, Sunshine is a significant comedy drama from the north for BBC1. We are delighted to be working with Jellylegs on their inaugural production for BBC comedy."

Oh, fantastic. Early Doors was stunning.

Three-part drama? Yawn. No thanks. Full 6 episode series please.

Quote: Aaron @ April 21 2008, 2:05 PM BST

Three-part drama? Yawn. No thanks. Full 6 episode series please.

I'll echo that.

Comedy drama . . . Dreary.

I think a Cash + Kay pairing would have been good, Cash could kick Kay into his old ways - i.e when he was good.

Cash + Coogan is pretty damn good, but lets have a sitcom please.

I'll watch, but I get the feeling the slightly more cloying aspects of Cash's work may seep through - see the final Royle Family.