BBC2 announces new chat show hosted by... Vladimir Putin?

The BBC has announced a bizarre new chat show hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Obviously not the real thing, but comedian Natt Tapley imitating him with the help of live VFX.

• First look at Emma Thompson in Russell T Davies drama Years and Years
• Russell T Davies drama The Boys about the 1980s AIDS crisis to air on Channel 4
• Meet the cast of Years and Years

Two semi-scripted "pilot" episodes of the show will air on BBC2 later this year, with guests including Alastair Campbell, June Sarpong, comedian Joe Swash and Guilty Feminist podcast host Deborah Frances-White.

For an idea of how Putin will look, have a glance at this teaser below, which sees him standing outside Buckingham Palace, declaring his intent to have the number one chat show in the UK: "Watch out Graham Norton, I'm coming for you."

According to a release from the BBC, the show is "created using performance capture technology, developed by creative studio Framestore".

The tech "enables a 3D digital cartoon of Putin to walk around and sit behind the desk, interviewing real human guests in front of a studio audience, all in real-time."

The series is created by Jasper Gibson, Joel Veitch and Simon Whalley. According to caricaturist Adrian Teal, it is set to air this June.