EXCLUSIVE: BBC Three’s military comedy series Bluestone 42 has cast a new guest star. My sources tell me that Amit Shah (Fresh Meat) has landed a role on the series. Shah, repped by United Agents, will be playing an Army Captain serving in Afghanistan. As TVWise initially reported in September, Bluestone 42 is a single-camera comedy created by James Cary and Richard Hurst. The eight episode series follows a British bomb disposal detachment serving in Afghanistan and features a group of soldiers who really enjoy being soldiers. The comedy will take the audience from moments of intense action to the fractious camaraderie as the unit waits around for their next tasking. The main cast includes Katie Lyons (The Crimson Petal and the White), Scott Hoatson (Case Histories), Stephen Wight (Threesome), Tony Gardner (Fresh Meat), Kelly Adams (Hustle) and Oliver Chris (Green Wing).
Sue Perkins’ new sitcom for BBC Two, Heading Out, has booked a number of guest stars for its six episode first season. Tim Downie, Tony Law, Ella Kenion, Graeme Garden and Bekka Bowling are all set to appear in various episodes. Created by Sue Perkins, Heading Out follows Sara (Perkins), a veterinarian so skilled, she can spay a tortoise one-handed. She’s successful, she’s popular, there’s just one chink in her armour: she’s too scared to tell her parents she’s gay. On the evening of her 40th birthday, Sara’s friends give her an ultimatum: either she tells her parents when they come to visit in six weeks’ time, or they will. To help Sara achieve this goal, they’ve saved up to buy a series of sessions with Toria, the eccentric and mildly-qualified lifestyle coach/ therapist, and so the countdown begins. Other actors on the series are Mel Giedroyc, Dawn French (French and Saunders), Shelly Conn (Marchlands), Joanna Scanlan (The Thick Of It), Nicola Walker (Spooks), Mark Heap (Friday Night Dinner), Dominic Coleman (Trollied), Raquel Cassidy (Lead Balloon), Harriet Walter (Law & Order: UK), Steve Pemberton (Benidorm), Jeff Rawle (Doc Martin), June Brown (EastEnders) and Anna Skellern (Parade’s End).
Back at BBC Three, recently announced sitcom Way To Go has also booked a slew of guest stars. Ben Bishop, Warren Clarke, Tom Georgeson, Derek Griffths and Alex Hassell have all landed guest spots on the show’s first season. Created by Bob Kushell, Way To Go revolves around brothers Scott and Joey and their friend Cozzo. After Scott is moved by a terminally ill neighbour’s request to die – and at the same time faced with a predatory female employer, a split from his girlfriend, and a desperate life or death need for cash to pay off his brother Joey’s gambling debts – he and his best mate Cozzo stumble towards what they think is their only solution: an assisted-suicide machine. A deeply illegal situation about which they will have to keep very, very quiet. Along the way, the 20-something mates find love in the strangest ways, fall out with each other and are touched by some of the people they come across. But it’s their own inadequacies and personal circumstances that most often lead to comedy in the darkest of situations. The main cast features Blake Harrison (The Inbetweeners), Ben Heathcote, Marc Wootton (La La Land), Laura Aikman (Lemon, La Vida Loca), Sinéad Matthews (Ideal) and Hannah Job (Coming Of Age).
