Suranne and John Hannah to star in detective spoof

Suranne and John Hannah to star in detective spoof
Suranne and John Hannah to star in detective spoof (Image credit: UK Press/Press Association Image)

Sky1HD is making a feature-length detective spoof, A Touch of Cloth, starring Suranne Jones and John Hannah. Co-written by Screenwipe's Charlie Brooker and Daniel Maier, it will star John as DCI Jack Cloth - a maverick, heavy drinking loner who has thrown himself into his work following the mysterious death of his wife. Cloth is teamed with plucky no-nonsense sidekick DC Anne Oldman, played by Suranne. Together the pair investigate a series of increasingly grisly murders and find themselves on the trail of a devious killer. As you do if you’re a detective... Sky1HD says the film will be a spoof of every British crime drama made in the last decade.   Co-writer Charlie Brooker said: “After you’ve seen A Touch of Cloth you’ll never be able to watch another detective show again. Not because it’s a devastating p***take, but because you’ll have smashed your TV to pieces in a disappointed fury." There's no word yet on a broadcast date for A Touch of Cloth.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.