Ralf Little swaps Royle Family for internet

IT'S not the type of production you would normally associate with one of Britain's top comedy talents. But for his latest project, Royle Family star Ralf Little is pounding the streets of Edinburgh with a tiny production crew and a cast of relative unknowns.

He is the star of KateModern, Europe's first internet-only drama, which has just launched its second season and is already attracting around two million viewers a week. The story has moved from London to Edinburgh with filming taking place yesterday in George Square.

Little told the Evening News: "Under normal circumstances you would already consider KateModern a ratings hit, but the trouble is no-one has ever tried this before in Europe so there's nothing to compare it to.

"This is a totally original idea so you can't compare the viewing statistics with television shows.

"The idea of internet-based entertainment is slowly slipping into the public consciousness, and to be involved in the very first show to harness that in Britain is really exciting. I'd imagine it's like being in on the ground floor during the early days of television."

The show was the brainchild of US medical school dropout Miles Beckett and former lawyer Greg Goodfried, who launched a similar project in the US called Lonelygirl15 about a troubled girl called Bree apparently "blogging" her life to the world. The US version caused controversy when it was first launched as Bree originally introduced herself as a real person, but viewers quickly worked out that her blog was part of a professional production and the team started introducing more dramatic elements into her life.

One of these plot-twists involved a sinister organisation called The Order, who pursued Bree to her death in order to discover the secrets of her rare blood type.

KateModern kicked-off last year, launched in conjunction with popular internet-networking site Bebo, picking up where Lonelygirl15 left off with The Order moving to London in search of fresh blood.

At the end of the first series Kate met a similar fate to her US counterpart, sending her friends on a manhunt to discover who killed KateModern which forms the basis of the second series.

Little, 28, said he believed internet-based shows are the future.

He added: "People are getting really excited about it but there are also those that I've spoken to that are worried that it will put them out of a job.

"Some people said the same thing when television came in but just as TV wasn't the death of cinema, the internet won't be the death of television.

"It's just another way for artists to express themselves, which will give us more scope to broaden our horizons and hopefully lead to more jobs for us all."

His next project will see him star as Chas Hodges – one half of Chas & Dave – in a film about 60s record producer Joe Meek, entitled Telstar, which also stars Kevin Spacey.