Walliams aims to show class in new BBC sitcom

The comic and actor plays a hopelessly romantic chemistry teacher in love with a colleague.

The show, set in a secondary school, is described as being “as if Grange Hill has met Remains of the Day” and is written by Walliams and the Dawson Brothers, who have written for Mitchell and Webb.

Walliams said: “I am delighted to be back at the BBC, writing and acting in a new sitcom.

“My co-writers, the Dawson Brothers, are brilliant. I met them when they wrote sketches for The One Ronnie, and I have loved collaborating with them.

“The read-through of the first episode attracted a stellar cast, and I hope the series will too.”

The show, which has a working title of Autumn Leaves, will be screened on BBC1 in six half-hour episodes.

BBC1 controller Danny Cohen said it was “brilliant to see such great talent being so passionate about working on the nation’s favourite channel”.

Walliams has become almost as well-known for his charity challenges as his acting career, having undertaken a cross-Channel swim and another on the River Thames, which both attracted widespread attention.