Johnny Vegas and Sian Gibson are reprising their roles as Terry and Gemma from UKTV’s 2017 Murder on the Blackpool Express in a new one-off murder mystery caper for the network’s Gold channel.
Produced by BAFTA award-winning Shiny Button Productions, Death on the Tyne is set on a ferry and lines up an impressive ensemble cast including Sue Johnston (The Royle Family), Felicity Montagu (Bridget Jones’s Diary, I’m Alan Partridge), Doon Mackichan (Smack the Pony, Two Doors Down), Georgie Glen (Calendar Girls, Damned), Don Gilet (EastEnders), Tony Gardner (Stella, Fresh Meat), James Fleet (Vicar of Dibley), Taj Atwal (Stella, In the Club), David Mumeni (The Windsors, Fearless) and the return of Sheila Reid (Benidorm) as Mildred.
Terry (Vegas) and Gemma (Gibson) promise to take Mildred (Reid) and her care home friends, including Hilda (Glen) and Colleen (Johnston) on an Amsterdam cruise adventure across the Tyne.
They’re welcomed aboard the Empress of the Tyne by ageing lothario Captain Jack (Fleet) and his motley crew – Cruise Director Denise (Montagu), First Officer Justin Valentine (Gardner), DJ Bobby (Mumeni), ex-pianist Alan (Gilet), barmaid Tracy (Atwal) and self-obsessed cabaret singer Emily (Mackichan).
It’s not long before things start to go awry in the most puzzling mystery the Tyne has ever seen.
Death on the Tyne is written by Jason Cook (Hebburn, Murder on the Blackpool Express), directed by critically-acclaimed comedy director Ed Bye (French and Saunders, Kevin & Perry Go Large, Red Dwarf, Bottom), with Catherine Gosling Fuller (Derry Girls) as series producer, Mollie Freedman-Berthoud (Murder on the Blackpool Express) as producer, and executive produced by Andy Brereton (Murder in Successville) for Shiny Button.
Jason Cook’s first outing Murder on the Blackpool Express was the most watched show ever on Gold with 1.8 million viewers*.
Pete Thornton, senior commissioning editor said: “It’s a real joy to be taking to the high seas (or at least the Tyne Estuary) with the hugely talented team at Shiny Button (this time with award winning director Ed Bye at the helm).
“Jason Cook has come up with a jewel of a script, toiling through the long winter months to create another complex, properly funny and hugely satisfying feature length murder mystery – packed with characters to die for, or indeed be killed by.”
Gerald Casey, channel director for Gold added: “We’re delighted to be reuniting Sian and Johnny for another hilarious and thrilling whodunnit, alongside an equally stellar cast.
“Murder on the Blackpool Express was overwhelmingly loved by the Gold viewers and these shows embody our commitment to new, exciting and original comedy alongside our familiar favourites.”
Johnny Vegas and Sian Gibson quipped: “The script is just a wonderful flowering garden of Cook’s writing and we are just two happy bees dancing in among the nectar of blood, betrayal and nautical based murder.
“We are loving once again being the Kylie and Jason of budget travel slaughter. (Sian nodded.)”
