David Schwimmer will play a power-hungry NSA agent relocated to the U.K. in “Intelligence,” a new six-part comedy series for Sky in the U.K.
Schwimmer is best known to U.K. audiences for his role in “Friends,” but was recently in the news after British police posted a video of a suspect thief who bore a striking resemblance to the U.S. star. Schwimmer took it in good humor, later posting his own spoof denial video.
He will exercise his comedy chops again for a British audience in “Intelligence,” alongside Nick Mohammed (“The Martian”). Schwimmer’s U.S. agent pairs up with Mohammed’s inept tech analyst in the series. The pair join a newly-formed cyber crime unit at GCHQ, the British government’s security base. “I have no idea what this show is about but if it’s called ‘Intelligence,’ naturally I’m going to be part of it,” Schwimmer said.
U.K.-based, BBC Studios-backed, indie Expectation is making the series for Sky One. Nerys Evans, Expectation’s creative director, comedy, talked up the “fantastic ‘odd couple’ chemistry” between Schwimmer and Mohammed.
“Even though the stakes are really high for the team, fighting cyber-crime, our six-part comedy series reveals the reality is not dissimilar to any other office environment, from temperamental photocopiers to meeting rooms being double booked,” Evans said.
Mohammed said getting to work with Schwimmer was a dream come true, and joked about the Schwimmer’s mistaken identity case in the U.K. “He’s collaborative, honest and exquisitely funny and I couldn’t be more delighted and flattered by his involvement,” he said. “On saying that, we did initially offer the part to the local shoplifter from Blackpool, but he wasn’t available sadly.”
“Intelligence” will be distributed by Sky Vision, which has landed the international rights.