Steve Coogan is busy filming the Alan Partridge movie in England, but he’s just booked a role as the lead in a new show in the States. Deadline reports that Coogan has signed on to star in an ABC drama pilot called Doubt, which would see him playing “a former cop who’s now a cunning but charming low-rent lawyer who uses his street smarts to work the system for his clients while battling his own demons and wooing his ex-wife.â€
Doubt comes from David Shore, who also created House and introduced another British comedian, Hugh Laurie, to the US with that dramatic series. Coogan is no stranger to dramatic acting as he’s starred in biopics like 24 Hour Party People and, most recently, The Look of Love. If Doubt gets picked up to series, it will be the first regular role on US television for the beloved British comedian. Coogan is the second dramatic actor to book a lead role in a network drama pilot this week after The Office’s Rainn Wilson signed on to play a detective in CBS’s Backstrom. We just need one more comedian playing a cop in a TV drama, and this will be a trend.