How Villain Creators Take Comedy From The Dark Side, By Stephen Merchant.

But Stephen Merchant's latest TV series, Outlaw, is not what it seems. Instead, this is a group of diverse characters who have come together to perform community service.

Including an American thief played by Christopher Walken and a disgusting lawyer played by Merchant himself, he seems to bring them a little closer, save for a few sharp comedies that go against each other.

What seems like a frivolous comedy with preserved brand jokes soon becomes an unsettling tale full of suspense when the group is accidentally drawn into a gang war.

The dealer said the idea for the One drama, which is set in his hometown of Bristol, came from the experience of his parents, who both worked with court-appointed people to do community service. My mom was there…she was building or painting a playground, she was talking about the people who came, and it was interesting because they were such an unusual group of people.

"There was an old man who kept coming back month after month, and he was always stealing things like cabbage from distribution, and over time he realized that he was just lonely and liked the social aspect of community service, which he did as I thought. Funny and weird.

"And an American businessman caught drunk driving and kids on the wrong road. So there's always the idea that an unlikely group of people should get together."

But while Merchant's latest series contains plenty of hilarious one-liners.

It also has the ominous excitement of being influenced by the "go-to" Merchant TV genre. "I've always loved thrillers, and I like it when there's humor, but there's still some thriller, drama, or darkness," he explains.

"I love the mix of the two, and I think the best episodes of Soprano do that, and Succession does it brilliantly too." After the last few years, we all try to see dark things all the time, so I admire [this show], but... I wanted it to be easy and still have some key points." An encounter occurs when Merchant, who also created The Office, Extras, and Lip Sync Battle, is introduced to American writer and producer Elgin James, a former gangster.

"Now he runs a show called Maya MC. Elgin was in a gang in his youth and was imprisoned. But the show was so funny, and we made The Outlaws together. The clash of two worlds was interesting - he came from this predicament. One lived in Boston and changed his life and mine. Spend a little time in prison!

"He talks about things that we find funny like he's a great book reader. Growing up, he didn't want the rest of the gang to know about it because he thought they saw a weakness, so he secretly hid it when the team came. Merchants were not content with partnering with a leading American television producer and then listing Hollywood Walken stars.