Martin Freeman has signed on to star in a new BBC drama about a police officer.

He will lead the cast of BBC Two’s The Responder, written by former police officer Tony Schumacher.

The six-part series features Freeman as Chris, who works night shifts with his new rookie partner, Rachel.

Each episode centres on a different shift, and the series is described as “wildly funny and painfully tragic.” Chris is dealing with a marriage that is breaking down while policing Liverpool’s criminal underbelly, and the show deals with the realities of policing in Britain and the complexities of Freeman’s character.

Freeman said: “Tony Schumacher’s script for The Responder resonated with me immediately. It felt like nothing that I’d read or seen.”