Piglets is an ITV comedy set in a fictional police training college and stars Sarah Parish and Mark Heap as superintendents charged with training six new recruits.
Created by the team that brought us Smack the Pony and Green Wing, it follows the academy as it tries to fulfil the new government policy of recruiting 20,000 new officers in double quick time. But does that mean standards have dropped to an all-time low?
Here’s all the information you need about the comedy series Piglets….
Piglets release date
Piglets is a six-part comedy that launches on ITV1 on Saturday, July 20 at 9.30pm and then episodes will air weekly.
All six episodes will also simultaneously drop as a box set on ITVX.
Is there a trailer for Piglets
Yes, and if this clip is anything to go by, the show is going to be hilarious!
Piglets plot
Piglets follows the training of six new wannabe police officers in light of the government vowing to recruit 20,000 more as a matter of urgency. No-nonsense Superintendent Julie Spry (Sarah Parish) and Superintendent Bob Weekes (Mark Heap) are overseeing the training of Steph (played by Callie Cooke), Leggo (Sam Pote), Geeta (Sukh Kaur Ojla) Afia (Halema Hussain), Dev (Abdul Sessay) and Paul (Jamie Bisping). But can these no-hopers really be whipped into shape in time?
Piglets cast — Sarah Parish as Superintendent Julie Spry
Sarah Parish plays Superintendent Julie Spry in Piglets. She found fame as Dawn Rudge in the series Peak Practice from 1997 to 1999 and went on to star in Blackpool Pillars Of The Earth and Cutting It. She’s since been in Industry, Stay Close, W1A, Bancroft, Mistresses, Broadchurch and Monroe.
Speaking of her transformation for her Piglets role, Sarah told us: "As soon as I read the script, I knew Julie would look a certain way. I’d already worked with make-up artist, Jody Williams, on Atlantis - we tried lots of wigs for Piglets, and as soon as I put on Julie’s I knew that was the one. It was exactly how I saw her in my head.
"Julie doesn’t wear make-up - or SPF - and Jody added loads of broken veins and skin damage to my face. Then Jody suggested fake teeth, so we went the whole hog! Many of the crew had only seen me as Julie, so after a day’s filming they were shocked to see what I really looked like."
Mark Heap as Superintendent Bob Weekes
Mark Heap plays Superintendent Bob Weekes in Piglets. Mark’s best known for playing Jim Bell in Friday Night Dinner and starred in Apple TV Plus comedy The Completely Made-up Adventures of Dick Turpin and Renegade Nell. He’s also had roles in Significant Other, Upstart Crow, Benidorm, Green Wing, Lark Rise to Candleford and Live at the Moth Club.
Who else is starring in Piglets?
Piglets also stars Callie Cooke (Doctor Who), Sam Pote, Sukh Kaur Ojla, Halema Hussain, Abdul Sessat and Jamie Bisping play new recruits Steph, Leggo, Geeta, Afia, Dev and Paul. Rebecca Humphries plays head of admin Melanie and Ukweli Roach and Ricky Champ are police trainers Mike and Daz.
Piglets episodes
Episode one
A fresh intake arrives at Norbourne Police Training College, where the no-nonsense Superintendent Julie Spry and the less-strict Superintendent Bob Weekes have the job of overseeing the training of the new recruits. All of the rookies have motives for being there, but some are more legitimate than others.
Episode two
Difficult situations must be defused to prevent escalation, while one of the recruits might be expelled if a fellow student reports their misconduct, and there's an unexpected staff sacking.
Check back for more episode updates soon.
Behind the scenes and more on Piglets
Piglets is written by Robert Harley, James Henry, Oriane Messina, Victoria Pile, Richard Preddy and Fay Rusling - the team responsible for Green Wing and Campus (Channel 4) - and ITV’s Comedy Writers Initiative candidate Omar Khan, also a recent winner of an International Emmy (the Sir Peter Ustinov Award for writers under 30). The creative team also worked closely with a writers room ‘annexe’ consisting of four new writers Abiola Ogunbiyi, Nusrath Tapadar, Farhan Solo and Alex Bertulis-Fernandes who were also a product of ITV’s Comedy Writers Initiative, which aims to promote new writers currently underrepresented in comedy.
Piglets is directed by Sam Leifer and Victoria Pile, and produced by Victoria Pile, with executive producers Robert Harley, Caroline Leddy, and Sam Leifer. Piglets is produced in association with, and distributed internationally by ITV Studios.
