Abigail
01-01-2008, 23:18
A comedy drama about television news reporting in a war zone will air on BBC Two.
American producer Tira Shubart has co-written the series and based the story and main character, David, largely on her ex-partner John Simpson.
The veteran reporter, now the BBC's world affairs editor, has been involved in developing the show and advised Martin Jarvis who is playing David.
It will be set in a fictional African war and filming will start in Kenya in January.
Simpson said: "Some of the situations Tira and I have been in together weren't always funny, but she has drawn a lot of the humour out of them - there's often a lot of comedy in this line of work.
"Tira and I have talked so much of it over - she was alongside me in lots of places and I racked my brain to think of all the jokes and incidents and I gave her lots of these things."
Ruby Wax will play an "obnoxious American war reporter" in the series and there will be cameos from journalists including George Alagiah, Sophie Raworth and Dermot Murnaghan.
A source told The Guardian: "The series really makes fun of what it's like to be a reporter in a war zone - it's a bit like Drop the Dead Donkey meets The Constant Gardener and it's very funny."
American producer Tira Shubart has co-written the series and based the story and main character, David, largely on her ex-partner John Simpson.
The veteran reporter, now the BBC's world affairs editor, has been involved in developing the show and advised Martin Jarvis who is playing David.
It will be set in a fictional African war and filming will start in Kenya in January.
Simpson said: "Some of the situations Tira and I have been in together weren't always funny, but she has drawn a lot of the humour out of them - there's often a lot of comedy in this line of work.
"Tira and I have talked so much of it over - she was alongside me in lots of places and I racked my brain to think of all the jokes and incidents and I gave her lots of these things."
Ruby Wax will play an "obnoxious American war reporter" in the series and there will be cameos from journalists including George Alagiah, Sophie Raworth and Dermot Murnaghan.
A source told The Guardian: "The series really makes fun of what it's like to be a reporter in a war zone - it's a bit like Drop the Dead Donkey meets The Constant Gardener and it's very funny."