Online superhero drama for SciFI UK in works

Sci Fi channel UK has ordered a superhero-themed mockumentary drama - the first commission for its new broadband player Sci Fi Play.

Legion of Fire stars Ron Moody, playing 80-something Cecil Roper, aka Flash Harry, who runs a Croydon-based superhero club. He's probably best known for his performance as Fagin in the 1960 feature film Oliver! but has guest starred in recent years on shows such as The Bill and Holby City.

Tellyjuice are no strangers to SF: some of the team produced a spoof of 2001: A Space Odyssey, which has been broadcast online. For more of that team's work, check out their YouTube page at www.youtube.com/user/attar

There are six members of the Legion of Fire club, including plastic-snake adorned single mother 'Snakebite', the aging and botanically-inspired teacher "The Deadly Nightshade" and the electrically charged "Flex".

The mockumentary will be less caught up with super villains than super debts and declining recruitment numbers, spooing much of the superhero mania abounding in today’s pop culture.

World Screen Digest reports the 25-minute documentary-style script was commissioned by Ken Jones, the branded content manager for SciFi UK, and will be split into episodic installments for streaming on SciFi Play this autumn. As well as capitalising on the success of shows such as Heroes and Stan Lee’s Who Wants To Be A Superhero? SciFi UK hope to build on the fan-base established by a spoof documentary filmed earlier this summer titled Major Victory: Man Behind the Cape.