Suranne: My cop show was research

Suranne Jones has revealed her cop drama Scott & Bailey was one of the shows being parodied in new comedy A Touch Of Cloth.

The former Coronation Street actress stars with John Hannah in the new Sky1 HD show by Charlie Brooker, a spoof of all the cliches used in TV crime dramas.

Suranne revealed: "On one of the rehearsal days I wasn't there and they'd given out these DVDs of cop shows to have a look at, of shows that we were parodying. And the next day I came in and said 'What was on the DVD?' and everyone said 'Oh, just cop shows...'

Anyway, finally someone said to me, 'You were on that DVD in Scott & Bailey. So basically you're going to take the p*** out of yourself on the show that you take seriously.' So no wonder they decided to give out the DVD on the day I was off!"

But she insisted she won't have a problem returning to the ITV show with Lesley Sharp and Amelia Bullmore. Suranne said: "If Scott & Bailey are doing the cliches that we're parodying on this show, then we're doing something wrong and I guess I should have a word."

Writer Charlie revealed part of the reason he made the show was to impress his mum.

He said: "I thought it was time somebody did a spoof of detective serials. I've always been a fan of spoofs, of the Airplane mode, because I think it's a very tricky type of humour to do well. Hopefully we've pulled it off.

"I've always wanted to do something - it's the sort of thing that my mother likes. Because most of the stuff I do, my mum likes it, but it's not really her cup of tea."