James R | On 25, Jan 2015

Rob Lowe will star in new drama Apocalypse Slough, which leads Sky’s line-up of original programming for 2015.

The ambitious series, which will be broadcast on NBC in the US, has a cast that spans both sides of the Atlantic, from Emmy Award nominee Jenna Fischer (The Office) and Emmy winner Megan Mullally (Will and Grace) to Brits Mathew Baynton, Pauline Quirke, Paterson Joseph and Joel Fry.

Set against a backdrop of apocalyptic chaos, the adrenaline fuelled comedy drama about the last days of mankind follows an eclectic group of seemingly unconnected characters, as their lives start to intersect – all triggered by the news that a comet is on an unavoidable collision course towards earth, which prompts a dash to make it to a bunker deep beneath the suburbs of Slough.

The show is created by Iain Hollands (Beaver Falls) and directed by 30 Rock’s Michael Engler.

“I’ve always been a fan of the kind of smart, ambitious and challenging filmmaking that comes from Sky and Working Title. This script and my character in particular, blew me away,” comments Rob Lowe.

He will play Father Jude, the Vatican’s most rebellious priest. Fischer will join him as Rhonda, a mild-mannered librarian who finds herself dangerously out of her depth when she is sent to a maximum security prison in New Mexico for a crime she did not commit. Mullally will play Leanne, an unhinged white supremacist who takes a deeply reluctant Rhonda under her wing. Baynton will take on the role of a humble bank manager, while Quirke will play his tough-as-nails mum and Fry will play his hedonistic best friend.

Adam MacDonald, Director of Sky 1, comments: “Apocalypse Slough is world-class, high- concept new drama for Sky 1. The show has bundles of energy, vibrancy and laughter, as well as delivering an exuberant heart-warming story on an epic scale. We are really excited to have Rob, Mathew, Jenna, Megan, Pauline, Paterson and Joel involved in the show. They are all exceptionally talented actors and their casting represents the vision and ambition we have for the series.”

The 10-episode show adds to Sky’s slate of original drama this year, including Birthday, written by Joe Penhall, The Five, created by author Harlan Coben, The Last Panthers – a crime drama written by Jack Thorne and starring Samantha Morton, Tahar Rahim and John Hurt – Critical, the new medical drama from Line of Duty writer Jed Mercurio, Enfield Haunting, starring Timothy Spall, Matthew MacFadyen and Juliet Stevenson, and Raymond Briggs’ much-loved Fungus the Bogeyman, which will land on Sky TV for Christmas.

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