EXCLUSIVE: Look away now Keir Starmer.

As the UK Prime Minister’s fragile Labour government is plunged into chaos, Channel 4 has chosen a good day to unveil first looks of Steven Moffat‘s political drama Number 10.

The Sherlock co-creator has always been clear that he is not basing the Downing Street series on any particular PM, but it is certainly ramping up marketing at a timely moment.

Pics show Rafe Spall as Prime Minister Harry Douglas, Katherine Kelly as Chief of Staff Frances Telford and Jenna Coleman as Deputy Chief of Staff Katie Flynn. Kelly is even joined by 10 Downing Street’s longest-serving resident, Larry the cat.

Number 10’s synopsis reads: “There’s a Prime Minister in the attic, a coffee bar in the basement, and a wallpapered labyrinth of romance, crisis and heartbreak in-between. Set in the only terrace house in history with mice and a nuclear deterrent, it’s the only knock-through in the world where a hangover can start a war. The government will be fictional and unspecific, but the problems will be real. We’ll never know which party is in power, because once the whole world hits the fan it barely matters.”

The final sentence feels apt given that Starmer’s Labour administration is crumbling. Yesterday, one of his previously closest allies, Health Secretary Wes Streeting, resigned with a blistering broadside. Starmer is expected to face a leadership challenge from Streeting plus others after a disastrous set of local election results and facing intense competition from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Number 10 also stars Akshay Khanna (Murderbot, Critical Incident), Abigail Lawrie (No Escape, The Casual Vacancy), Laura Haddock (What It Feels Like For A Girl, Downton Abbey: A New Era), Jing Lusi (Red Eye, Crazy Rich Asians), Pierro Niel-Mee (Andor, Slow Horses), Rick Warden (Happy Valley, The Sixth Commandment), Joe Wilkinson (Afterlife, The Cookfields), Robyn Cara (Trying, Rainmaker), Richard Rankin (Rebus, Outlander), Rhiannon Clements (The Power of Parker, Vera), Patrick Baladi (The Office, Line of Duty), Shaun Prendergast (Wicked, Industry), Harry Baxendale (The Radleys, Shadow and Bone), Alex Macqueen (The Feud, Seven Dials Mystery), Sid Sagar (The Batman, Slow Horses), Sam Alexander (The Jury; Murder Trial, Sister Boniface Mysteries), Emer Kenny (Karen Pirie, The Curse) and Gary Lamont (Outlander).

Commissioned for Channel 4 by Gwawr Lloyd, Interim Head of Channel 4 Drama, the executive producers for Hartswood Films are Moffat and Sue Vertue with Lawrence Till (The Devil’s Hour, The Young Offenders) as the producer. Rachel Stone will be the co-producer. The director will be Ben Palmer (Douglas Is Cancelled, The Inbetweeners). 

Number 10 is produced in association with and will be distributed by ITV Studios.