Channel 4 has commissioned a new drama set at No.10, which will be about “the building and everyone inside”.
The drama will be written by Steven Moffat, previously responsible for Doctor Who and Sherlock, and directed by Ben Palmer, whose credits includeDouglas Is Cancelled and The Inbetweeners. Details of the show's actors are yet to be announced.
Gwawr Lloyd, acting head of drama at Channel 4, said Number 10 would be a "bold, brilliant and witty new drama from the exceptional mind of Steven Moffat and the powerhouse team at Hartswood Films".
"Number 10 will offer a rare glimpse behind the doors of the world’s most iconic political residences which will take viewers from the high-stakes decisions of leadership to the lives of the staff who keep the house running," she added. "An insightful and entertaining twist on a state of the nation drama.”
Channel 4's press release describes the drama as: "10 Downing Street. There’s a prime minister in the attic, a coffee bar in the basement, and a wallpapered labyrinth of romance, crisis and heartbreak in-between. Set in the only terrace house in history with mice and a nuclear deterrent, it’s the only knock-through in the world where a hangover can start a war. The government will be fictional, but the problems will be real. We’ll never know which party is in power, because once the whole world hits the fan it barely matters. This is a show about the building and everyone inside. Not just the prime minister upstairs, but the conspiracy theorist who runs the cafe three floors below, the man who repairs the lift that never works, the madly ambitious ‘advisors’ fighting for office space in cupboards. Oh, and of course, the cat. Number 10 is all of Britain in a house: it’s British history under one roof. It’s how we all got into the mess we’re in. It’s also our only hope of getting out of it."
Sue Vertue, executive producer for Hartswood Films and partner of Moffat, said Number 10 was "a passion project" for the writer.
"He says there are three famous doors in the world; he’s done 221B Baker Street and the TARDIS – now he’s going to do the real one," Vertue said.
In an Instagram post, Moffat said: "It’s basically Press Gang in Downing Street. Or Doctor Who with funnier monsters. Or Sherlock with a fairly similar door. (But really it’s Press Gang in Downing Street)."