Comedy star says Labour leader will surely be delighted to see himself portrayed in Tracey Breaks the News

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

She’s played an uptight Theresa May, a sultry Angela Merkel and once danced with Neil Kinnock in a music video. Now it is Jeremy Corbyn’s inevitable turn to get the Tracey Ullman treatment – and the likeness is uncanny.

For her new BBC series, the comedian renowned for her impressions will don a beige jacket, a red tie and some grey facial hair to morph into a Corbyn doppelganger.

Ullman will play the Labour leader in the topical sketch show Tracey Breaks the News. In the programme’s pilot edition after the general election in June, the comedian portrayed a paranoia-ridden May, while her version of Merkel lusted after the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

Macron’s wife, Brigitte, will also be among the characters in the series, which begins on BBC1 on Friday.

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Tracey Breaks the News is driven by current affairs, and Ullman has spoken of the comedy to be found in “the world’s current terrifying doom spiral”.

She said she could not wait to play “a certain Labour leader, who we imagine has a marvellous sense of humour and will no doubt be delighted to see himself depicted by a middle-aged woman”.

“Please don’t shave your beard off, Jeremy – we’ve just had one made,” she added.