Chris O’Dowd will star in a new ‘mockumentary’ from Spinal Tap star Christopher Guest. Guest, who played the hapless Nigel Tufnell in the rock comedy Spinal Tap, has good form when it comes to semi-improvised, faux-documentary comedy such as this. He also worked on Best In Show, the applauded comic dog show movie and now, the BBC have snapped him up to write, direct and star in a new series, Family Tree. The series follows the story of 30 year old Tom Chadwick (played by O’Dowd), who suffers an identity crisis after losing his girlfriend and job.

The series will require actors to improvise material, as Chadwick gains a “growing sense of who he is,” after receiving a mysterious box of possessions from a great aunt that he never knew he had, The Independent reports. Janice Hadlow, the Controller at BBC2, said “I am delighted to welcome Christopher Guest to BBC Television. It will be his first television series for British audiences and one I am proud to have here on the BBC. It has a stellar cast led by the fantastic Chris O’Dowd and is an exciting collaboration with NBCU International and HBO. Family Tree will form a key part of the channel’s comedy next year.”

O’Dowd has become hot property in the comedy world, after his role in the hit movie Bridesmaids. When asked about working with Christopher Guest, he said “I’m terribly excited and monumentally under-qualified to work on an improvised show with Chris Guest. I call him Chris ‘coz we are friends. He calls me George. I don’t know why.”