Murder in Successville: is this the strangest celebrity mystery in TV history?
The BBC3 series puts Dermot O’Leary, Louis Smith, Jamie Laing and Greg James in the middle of some curious cop drama
Can you imagine a world where Harry Styles runs a mafia gang and Mary Berry is the owner of a strip club?
Welcome to Successville where the population includes DI Sleet (played by Tom Davis), his sleuthing celebrity sidekicks and you, the viewer.
Filming is currently underway on BBC3's brand new interactive murder mystery drama, which challenges famous faces with helping to solve some curious crimes.
Dermot O’Leary, Louis Smith, Jamie Laing and Greg James have all signed up for the challenge. They'll be dropped into a strange town where they try to assist DI Sleet with his investigations.
"Every boy dreams of being a detective and I finally had the chance to be one," says Made in Chelsea star Jamie. "Not only that, Murder In Successville was one of the funniest shows I’ve ever been a part of."
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Described as a "surreal place that feels like Misdomer Murders meets Sin City", Successville is brimming with familiar faces who aren’t entirely as they seem.
Prepare to see Harry Styles, Taylor Swift and Simon Cowell (played by the likes of Tom Stourton, Gemma Whelan and Tony Way) as you’ve never seen them before. This town has a seriously high celebrity homicide count and everyone’s a suspect.
Ed Sleeman, executive producer for the BBC, says the series promises to be unlike anything the audience has previously encountered.
"Murder in Successville manages to reinvent three genres of TV – part sitcom, part improv show and with a cop show style murder to solve along the way... all this and we haven't even started on Tom Davis' hilarious lead character DI Sleet!” he said.
Tiger Aspect's head of entertainment, Andy Brereton, adds the new detective is “just like Sherlock, except he doesn't have the good looks, has an odour problem and can't solve any crimes".
Will the sidekicks feel the heat when they join DI Sleet on the beat? Or can they call upon the science of deduction to solve a Murder in Successville?
Sounds like we’re going to need a considerably bigger Mind Palace...
No word yet on when Murder in Successville will make it to BBC3, but watch this space.
