The BBC air to air a new talk show fronted by a 3D digital version of Vladimir Putin.
The two-part semi-scripted comedy, ‘Tonight With Vladimir Putin’, will use ground-breaking live VFX, created by Framestore using performance capture technology, so that the cartoon version of the Russian leader is able to walk around and sit behind a desk and interview human guest in front of a studio audience, all in real time.
In the first episode of the BBC Two show, former Labour communications boss Alistair Campbell will be a guest – and the host will praise and thank him for making a mess of British politics, while presenter June Sarpong will also make an appearance to reflect on her career before playing a game of ‘Diversity Challenge’ with ‘Vlad’.
The second episode allows Vladimir to ask a question he first pondered in a production meeting; "Who is Joe Swash?" as the former ‘EastEnders actor takes a seat on his sofa.
And ‘Guilty Feminist’ podcast host Deborah Frances-White does her best to educate the host on the subject of feminism, but he doesn’t quite grasp the concept.
In both episodes, ‘Vlad’ will be brought to life by comedy writer Natt Tapley.
The show has been created by Jasper Gibson, Joel Veitch and Simon Whallet and will be produced by Phil McIntyre Television and Framestore.
Joel has promised the show will be "awesome".
He Tweeted: "Big news! I’ve been working on this as a secret project with some absolutely brilliant people for years, and we are finally getting our pilot on BBC2! It’s going to be SUPERDUERAWESOME! WOOHOOO! (sic)"
The two pilot episodes will air later this year and each will run for 12 minutes.
BBC to pilot CGI ‘Vladimir Putin’ talk show
