David Walliams will play a fictional Prime Minister in Sky One’s The Queen And I, a 90-minute comedy special, which is based on the book of the same name by Sue Townsend.
Prime Minister Jack Barber, in the book, heads up a government that forces the Queen to abdicate. Courtesy of GoodReads, the official blurb from the book explains more:
THE MONARCHY HAS BEEN DISMANTLED
When a Republican party wins the General Election, their first act in power is to strip the royal family of their assets and titles and send them to live on a housing estate in the Midlands.
Exchanging Buckingham Palace for a two-bedroomed semi in Hell Close (as the locals dub it), caviar for boiled eggs, servants for a social worker named Trish, the Queen and her family learn what it means to be poor among the great unwashed. But is their breeding sufficient to allow them to rise above their changed circumstance or deep down are they really just like everyone else?
Walliams broke the news by posting this snap on Twitter…
I am filming ‘The Queen & I’ for @SkyOne It’s an adaptation of the late great Sue Townsend’s comic novel about the royal family being sent to live on a council estate. I play the Prime Minister. pic.twitter.com/eUHJCAn1fx
— David Walliams (@davidwalliams) 20 September 2018
David Walliams’ production company, King Bert, which is also part-owned by Miranda Hart, will oversee the filming of the show for Sky One.
Stephen Russell – who has previously written for Shameless, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Coronation Street and Peaky Blinders – has adapted Sue Townsend’s book for the screen.
We’ll be sure to keep you posted as more names are added to the cast list and this intriguing project moves forwards.