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 Britain.
Schwimmer is best known to British audiences for his role as Ross in “Friends,” but was recently in the news after British police posted a video of a suspected thief who seemed to bear a striking resemblance to the U.S. star. Schwimmer took it in good humor, later posting his own spoof denial video.
He recently guest-starred in a few episodes of “Will & Grace,” and will now exercise his comedy chops again for a British audience in “Intelligence,” alongside Nick Mohammed (“The Martian”), who plays an inept tech analyst. 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.
British indie producer Expectation, which is backed by BBC Studios, is making the series for Sky One. Nerys Evans, Expectation’s creative director for 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 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.
