STEVE COOGAN - MOVIE VERSION OF BBC SHOW THE MIGHTY BOOSH IN THE WORKS

MOVIE VERSION OF BBC SHOW THE MIGHTY BOOSH IN THE WORKS

The BBC has confirmed it is negotiating with the stars of The Mighty Boosh to produce a movie version of the hit show.

According to BBC Films editor Christine Langan, talks are underway with the series' creators Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt to take their surreal adventures to the big screen.

Talking to Variety, she confirmed that the BBC is keen to produce a film featuring the adventures of Fielding and Barratt's onscreen alter-egos Vince Noir and Howard Moon.

"It's a perfect BBC project," Langan explained.

"Noel and Julian are phenomenally talented, there's an existing, very loyal fan base and the project has huge potential."

The Mighty Boosh began life as a stage show at the Edinburgh festival before earning a cult following on BBC Radio 4, with writer and presenter Danny Wallace on production duties.

Baby Cow, the production company headed by Steve Coogan, picked up the rights for the series, which began screening on BBC3 in 2004.

While the first series saw Vince and Howard working at the Zooniverse, a ramshackle zoo run by the crazed Bob Fossil (Rich Fulcher), the second series explored their attempts to make it in the music industry.

Series three, recently released on DVD, featured the pair working in the Nabootique in Dalston, east London, the shop owned by their shaman friend Naboo (played by Fielding's brother Michael).

In a 2006 interview with the Sun newspaper, Noel Fielding said: "We'd desperately like to make a Mighty Boosh movie. I think it would work better in a film than it does on TV.

"Half an hour is too short a time for us. We need to explore the worlds that we're in and at the moment we're struggling to get everything in."

He added that Timothy Spall and Coogan had been pencilled in as guest stars for the Mighty Boosh movie.