Six months after British Comedy Guide first reported it, Christopher Walken has been confirmed as leading the cast of Stephen Merchant's BBC comedy drama The Offenders, which has resumed filming.

Merchant himself, Green Wing's Darren Boyd and Poldark's Eleanor Tomlinson also star in the in the six-part series, which revolves around seven strangers doing court-ordered community service, and which also stars Rhianne Barreto, Gamba Cole and Clare Perkins.

Filming on the co-production with Amazon, was halted after only a few days because of the coronavirus pandemic, and before Walken could travel from America.

Set in Merchant's native Bristol, The Offenders has been described as a "crime thriller-meets-state-of-the-nation commentary", with the plot involving the group taking on one of the city's most dangerous criminal gangs.

The series follows seven strangers, The Offenders, from different walks of life forced together to complete a Community Payback sentence in Bristol. As they become involved in each other's lives, they also become involved with a dangerous criminal gang.

Walken plays Frank, an inveterate scoundrel trying to reconnect with his family. Merchant plays Greg, a lonely lawyer coping with divorce, work-place bullying and scary men with knives. Barreto is Rani, a gifted but rebellious math student who has been hot-housed from a young age by her loving but controlling parents.

Cole portrays Christian, a young man struggling to raise his kid sister while staying one step ahead of the Brook Hill Crew, a notorious Bristol crime gang. Boyd plays John, a businessman and law-abiding pillar of the community furious at being labeled a criminal. Perkins plays Myrna, an ageing activist and campaigner who has lost none of her youthful radicalism. Tomlinson portrays Gabby, an aristocratic celebutante whose glamour and life of leisure masks deep-rooted problems.

Nina Wadia, Dolly Wells and Derry Girls' Ian McElhinney are among the supporting cast.

Merchant, who has written the series with Elgin James, a former US gang member who co-created the American show Mayans M.C., said: "Like so many other productions, we'd just begun filming when Covid-19 struck and we had to shut down.

"I'm delighted that we're now finally able to resume filming with this incredible cast and finish this long-standing passion project. This is the first series I've made in my hometown of Bristol and I'm so excited to showcase the city and utilise the amazing local talent."

The Office creator, who will also direct the new series, has previously said: "The Offenders is a long-standing passion project for me.

"My parents used to work in the community service world and I was always intrigued that the many and varied people they dealt with only had one thing in common: they'd committed a crime.

"Ever since The Office, I love finding ways to bring unlikely groups of people together and watch the sparks fly. As a writer, I always include humour but with The Offenders, I also get to add drama, pathos, crime genre thrills and say something optimistic about the common humanity that unites us all, whatever our background.

"The Offenders' mix of light and shade, dark and comic, middle-class angst with inner-city grit, reflects the unlikely partnership of me and Elgin. I grew up in suburbia whereas Elgin spent his early life building a national street gang until a police investigation landed him in prison.

"Despite coming from different sides of the tracks, Elgin and I share a love of convincing characters and authentic, engaging, human stories."

Though primarily known as a dramatic actor, Walken has displayed his comic chops hosting Saturday Night Live seven times. The Deerhunter star has a fear of flying and The Offenders will be his first British television project since the 2014 BBC drama Turks & Caicos. He also appeared in the 2015 comedy feature biopic of British ski-jumper Michael Edwards, aka Eddie the Eagle.

The Offenders is being made by Big Talk (Cold Feet, Friday Night Dinner), with Nickie Sault (The Inbetweeners Movie, This Is England) producing.

Luke Alkin, Kenton Allen and Matthew Justice are the executive producers.

Speaking at the time of The Offenders' announcement, Kate Daughton, head of BBC comedy said: "The BBC One audience are in for an absolute treat with Stephen Merchant's gripping world rich with heart, humour and stand out characters.

"Among the deftly woven plots, high jinks, unlikely friendships and big belly laughs are very human stories about loyalty, truth and family."