Ben Miller and Hugh Dennis are to star in Ballot Monkeys, a new topical C4 comedy being written to tie in with the General Election.

The writers are Drop The Dead Donkey and Outnumbered creators Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin.   

The satirical sitcom will be broadcast during the climax of the May election and will intercut between the various campaign buses of the four main parties – Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and UKIP.

On each bus, we follow the fortunes of a rich collection of characters; Press officers, line managers, empathy consultants, SPADs, IT wizards, social media monitors, political analysts, interns and even bus drivers – as they crisis manage the latest dramas and developments, the very same ones that viewers will be well aware of, having only recently read about them or seen the breaking news via social media. 

The cast will also include Sarah Hadland (Miranda), Kathleen Rose Perkins (Episodes), Hattie Morahan (Outnumbered), Andy Nyman (Ghost Stories), Esther Smith (Uncle) and Rhashan Stone (The Smoke).

Filming will start one week before transmission and will draw on major themes and incidents of the campaign so far. As with the Drop The Dead Donkey editing process, Hamilton & Jenkin will leave gaps in which to insert the highly topical material at the very last minute.

Hamilton and Jenkin said: “We’re very excited about this. We don't think anyone's done anything like this before, although we may find out why.”