The Comic Strip is set to return with a new spoof focusing on Rebekah Brooks and the phone hacking scandal.

The Comic Strip Presents... The Red Top! - a working title - will star Maxine Peake as the infamous former tabloid editor, alongside Nigel Planer as Rupert Murdoch and Russell Tovey as Andy Coulson.

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The show is described as the story of Rebekah, "an innocent and beguiling Northern girl" who through a series of accidental circumstances becomes Chief Executive of News International and gets tied up in a "'70s Watergate-style scandal".

A 75-minute "comic fantasy", the show follows in the footsteps of The Comic Strip's The Hunt for Tony Blair and will see Stephen Mangan reprise his role as the former Labour Prime Minister.

The new special will also star Johnny Vegas, Alexei Sayle, Harry Enfield and John Sessions.

Peter Richardson, who is behind the programme, said: "Like our previous Comic Strip satire - The Hunt for Tony Blair, which was set in the '60s, The Red Top (WT) lampoons the phone hacking scandal and the world of politics and press proprietors, and is set in a colourful '70s Boogie Nights-style parallel universe with a disco soundtrack.

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"I'm thrilled to have such a fantastic cast. It should be huge fun."

Simon Lupton, Commissioning Editor for UKTV, said of the project: "There's nothing quite like The Comic Strip anywhere else in the world of comedy and so it's incredibly exciting to be part of this next chapter.

"The script is wonderfully hilarious and playful, and as always the cast list is an embarrassment of riches. The Comic Strip history is littered with iconic moments, characters and performances, and I'm confident Peter and his team will be creating some more with this latest instalment."

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Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies, TV and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME and Screen International.  Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings to Love Is Blind, and is equally in his element crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i' as a sub-editor.