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Like a comedy James Bond film, Action Team sees Line Of Duty’s Vicky McClure lead a hapless band of agents as they battle to save the planet

Our 52-page guide includes Jaci Stephen’s Soap Watch and a special preview of the hilarious spoof spy series Action Team

You’d think Line Of Duty’s Vicky McClure is auditioning for the role of M in James Bond when we first meet her in ITV’s new series Action Team. Serious and focused, her character Ruth is calling the shots in a top-secret government underground bunker bristling with computer gear, and instructing spies while taking a video call from a sinister villain named Vlad.

But don’t be fooled. Action Team is a laugh-a-minute spy spoof about a bunch of hapless agents, and while Vicky is mainly playing it straight, mayhem and mishap are never far away.

‘There’s a problem with the call from Vlad,’ explains Vicky. ‘He’s not very technically minded and forgets to put the phone down at the end of the conversation. So, embarrassingly, the private chat he then has with his assistant Sergei plays out on a big screen in Ruth’s office. It’s moments like that which remind you Action Team is definitely a comedy, not a thriller.’

Filmed on location across Bulgaria and the UK, the six-part series follows the exploits of a team of special agents working for MI6, led by Ruth.

The leader in the field is Logan – played by the show’s co- creator Tom Davis – who we first see in Marrakech, Morocco, during a shootout in which Action Team member Agent 49 is shot dead along with enemy spy Gringori.

Both men blurt out ‘Abacus’ before dying, and the word takes on great significance as the story progresses.

‘It’s some kind of plan or machine designed to take over the world or perhaps even destroy it,’ explains Tom, best known for playing DI Sleet in the BBC’s Murder In Successville. ‘It’s Logan and his colleagues’ task to prevent Abacus from ever being used.’

Among those agents are seasoned pros Graham and Monica as well as a work- experience chap called Huxley. They face some serious foes, including the team’s nemesis Vlad, a role also taken by Tom Davis. Then there’s Klone, a terrorist in sunglasses who goes undercover in a string quartet and is feared to be planning an outrage at the National Theatre in Vienna. Meanwhile, Vlad’s lover, glamorous Rebekkah Volk, claims to have a digital device that’s the key to world domination.

‘I’ve never seen anyone work so hard as Tom on this project,’ says Horrible Histories star Jim Howick, who plays Graham. ‘ It was extraordinary. He would play Logan in the morning, then Vlad in the afternoon and never flag.’

Tom says working on Action Team

was a dream job. ‘When I was a kid I watched The A-Team and the Die Hard movies so to play those kinds of roles was genuinely fantastic.

‘And perhaps playing Logan was even an audition for James Bond. Every year the bookies try to predict who’ll play the next 007 and I’m always left off the list, so this is me doing something about that!’

Action Team represents quite a change for Vicky McClure. ‘It is very different from Line Of Duty, but I wanted to do it when I read the scripts and laughed out loud,’ she says.

‘And the laughter didn’t stop there. On set we had so much fun. It was a blast from beginning to end, and I reckon it will be too for viewers.’

LOGAN (Tom Davis) A brave, heroic agent who is prone to messing up. He frequently has to forgo romantic liaisons when duty suddenly calls. HUXLEY (Kayode Ewumi) He’s in the thick of the action despite being on work experience – but car chases are a...