BCG chats to Australian comedy actor Steen Raskopoulos, who plays John Mahogany in new BBC Three comedy Top Coppers...

Hi Steen. Could you explain what the show is about?

Top Coppers is a character cop comedy about detectives John Mahogany and Mitch Rust. Each episode Mahogany and Rust are assigned a new case and, with the help of the Justice City Police Department, they somehow manage to solve it. Or do they? They do. Or do they??

Before filming the show, did you watch any 70s cop shows to get into the vibe?

Definitely. I watched T.J. Hooker, Police Squad and Starsky & Hutch. There was a lot of "hairspiration" for me in those shows.

You do have great hair in Top Coppers. Did you have to go around with it dyed like that for a while?

Yes, it was dyed a week before we started filming. The first dye job, however, wasn't quite right - it turned out bright orange. I had to rock that colour over an entire weekend, and was so embarrassed I called John Kearns to meet me for lunch so I didn't have to be the only one looking like a carrot... because two guys with fluoro orange hair is less strange than one, right?

Both you and John come from a live comedy background. Had you met before?

John and I met backstage at the Soho Theatre in London when we were performing our live comedy shows there at the same time. That was a few months before Top Coppers kicked off. I instantly liked him because of his outrageous backstage requests. Who demands a year's supply of Percy Pigs for each show? What a guy!

You both play your characters very straight... did you have trouble not laughing whilst filming any of the sillier scenes?

Yes, it was a constant struggle and we have the outtakes to prove it. The hardest moment for me was when John's character was eating a sandwich and he decided to improvise by slapping me across the face with it. The director thought this was great and wanted to keep it in the show, so I had to endure eight more takes of being slapped. In the face. With a sandwich. Without laughing.

We think we're right in saying Top Coppers is your first lead role in a TV show. Were you nervous to accept the part or did you jump straight into the project?

I was just so excited to be part of a BBC comedy series, especially when we started to find out about the amazing cast and the well-known actors who would be making guest appearances on the show. The first scene I filmed was with Simon Farnaby and I definitely wanted to not fuck it up make a good impression.

Are you a TV comedy fan in general? If so, what are your favourite shows?

Yes, I am - particularly UK comedy shows. I grew up watching Monty Python and Mr Bean, and admired Rowan Atkinson and John Cleese for their physical comedy. The Office and The Mighty Boosh are two of my favourite shows of all time. Being able to work alongside Simon and Rich Fulcher on Top Coppers was surreal.

You will not meet a funnier person on-set than Rich Fulcher. His ad-libs and improvisation were impossible not to laugh at and quite a few of these made it into the final cut.

All of the guest actors were fantastic and each brought another dimension to the show.

Top Coppers is packed with lots of visual and verbal jokes. Do you have a favourite scene or joke we should look out for?

Yeah I do. It's hard to choose just one, but my tip would be to keep an eye out for Eddie the hamster. He really steals the show in the first episode.

Top Coppers is on BBC Three on Wednesdays at 10pm