The Offenders

First look released for Stephen Merchant series The Offenders

(credit: BBC/ Amazon Prime Video)

The series will see Academy Award-winner Christopher Walken make his first lead role on British television. Written, starring and directed by Stephen Merchant (The Office), The Offenders follows a mismatched bunch of strangers brought together to complete a Community Payback sentence in Bristol.

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The show must go on” runs the showbiz saying, but even this old cliché has been turned on its head by the Covid-19 pandemic. Numerous dramas have temporarily halted produc­tion in recent months following Covid outbreaks among cast or crew. Sky thriller Cobra, for example, started shooting its second season at the end of September, but returned from the Christmas break to find that 15 of its cast and crew had tested positive for Covid.

Casting announced for Stephen Merchant’s The Offenders

(credit: Big Talk)

Academy Award-winning actor Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter) will be making his leading British television debut as Frank, a long-established swindler undertaking community service in Bristol.

The Offenders follows seven strangers from vastly different backgrounds, who come together as part of Community Payback sentence in Bristol. As they grow to become more involved in each other’s lives, they also accidentally become entwined with a hardened criminal gang.

BBC One announces new Stephen Merchant series The Offenders

(credit: BBC)

The six-part comedy crime thriller set in Bristol will follow a group of seven complete strangers brought together to complete a Community Payback sentence.

The group of misfits from different walks of life form unlikely friendships, and each character’s complicated life is brought into play. As the initial façades begin to slip, The Offenders delves into what made each character the complex people they are today.

When one falls into trouble, the group must unite to protect them from Bristol’s most dangerous gang.