New Sky comedy series Code 404 greenlit for Sky One

Stephen Graham and Daniel Mays are set to star in Code 404, a new Sky original production, for Sky One, set in the in the Special Investigation Unit at the London Met.

The 6x30” police comedy series, co-produced by Water & Power Productions and Kudos, part of the Endemol Shine Group, is set in the near future and will revolve around two Detective Inspectors, DI John Major (Daniel Mays) and DI Roy Carver (Stephen Graham), who are the top crime fighting duo in the Unit. But when an undercover sting goes horribly wrong, Major is gunned down on the job and killed.

How will the SIU function without Major? It doesn’t have to. As an ‘asset’ considered too valuable to lose, Major’s body is fast-tracked into an experimental Artifical Intelligence project to bring him back from the dead. The only problem is, Major 2.0 may look like and sound like the original, but something has been lost in translation - quite a lot actually. His arrogant demeanour and gung-ho approach remain but his crimefighting instincts have completely deserted him. Somehow, Major’s error-strewn hunches and Carver’s scrambling to make good allows them to just about scrape by. But while the experiment might be hailed as a success, on the front line Roy Carver is left dealing with an increasingly deluded partner.

Jon Mountague, Head of Comedy, Sky Entertainment, said: “What a coup, Stephen Graham and Daniel Mays are the dream team - the perfect Carver and Major. Danny Peak’s scripts are endlessly hilarious and very, very arresting. Can’t wait.”

Tom Miller from Water & Power Productions, said: “Danny and Stephen are an electric double-act, and with Daniel Peak’s brilliant scripts we can’t wait to bring this to life for Sky One.”

Phil Temple from Kudos, said: “We couldn’t be more delighted to have such outstanding actors bringing heart and passion to these joyful scripts – this really is going to be great!”

Code 404 will be directed by Al Campbell and written by Daniel Peak. Executive producers include Tom Miller and Sam Myer for Water & Power Productions, Phil Temple and Diederick Santer for Kudos and Morwenna Gordon for Sky. The series was commissioned by Jon Mountague, Sky’s Head of Comedy and Zai Bennett, Director of Programming for Sky Entertainment UK & Ireland.

Code 404 will air on Sky One and streaming service NOW TV in 2020 and will be internationally distributed by Sky Vision. Filming begins in March 2019.