Stephen Merchant

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.

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.

Merchant and Chaudry play two mismatched neighbours who drive cross country to collect a toy for a little girl’s Christmas wish.

Andrew Bennet (Merchant) realises on Christmas Eve that he has forgotten the one gift his daughter really wanted, Sparklehoof the Unicorn Princess. Struggling to track one down last minute, his annoying and over-friendly neighbour Dev D’Cruz (Chaudhry) finds the last one in the UK.

Unfortunately, it's 300 miles away in Carlisle and the pair embark on a journey to collect it in time to save Christmas.