Channel 4 will take political clichés to a darkly satirical level in Ballot Monkeys, a new real-time political sitcom from Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin. Airing in May, the episodes will be written and filmed during the week of the general election.
A star-studded cast (Ben Miller, Trevor Cooper, Sarah Hadland and Hattie Morahan as the four main party candidates) form the line-up for the new comedy, where the actors offer up authentic portrayals of politicians, reeling off stereotypical political promises alongside an abundance of over-exaggerated hand-gestures!
The trailers were made by 4Creative, Channel 4’s in house agency, working closely with Andy and Guy, and directed by Jim Hayton. ENVY provided the post-production on the trailers and teasers for the series.
Offline editor Nick Armstrong comments: “The premise of the promo was to create scenarios that highlight the improvised nature of the comedy duos’ work and the fickle nature of the shows political campaign managers. We cut a variety of scripts from featuring different jokes on those themes, which will run on air concurrently.
Rich Martin adds: “The music we chose was Fun Boy Three's 'The Lunatics (Are Taking Over The Asylum)' which soundtracks the spots nicely, highlighting some subtle comedic moments and also providing a satirical nod to the shows’ subject matter. There’s also a cameo voice over from Jon Snow!”