They say inspiration can come at any time or anywhere, and for a US comedian living in Wandsworth it came eating crisps in a border security jail cell.

Landing on August 2, Channel 5 Borderline is a mockumentary-style sitcom following the employees at the fictional border security office of Northend Airport - a small provincial airport in the UK.

The concept came to co-writer Michael Orton-Toliver, an American comedian now living in Wandsworth, after an altercation with border security officers who denied him entry into the UK.

He said: “I used to have a residency card that said you could live in Europe - that continent you used to be part of - but I forgot it and they put me in a cell.”

“They fed me Walkers crisps and showed me The One Show, then kicked me out the country.”

“I remember thinking that this would be a good sitcom - no one has done a comedy about the people that work here.”

At first, the concept was a means of ridiculing Mr Orton-Toliver's captors, but as they worked on a script, it became more considerate.

Mr Orton-Toliver said: “When I first wrote it, it came across as really mean, like it was obvious that we didn't like these people, but I don't think that's true.”

“They have a really difficult job, and it's hard, and that guy [at Stansted] was trying his best and I really wasn't being helpful.”

Mr Orton-Toliver comes from an improvisation background and was keen to harness London's improv talent for the show. 

“Me and my co-writer [Chris Gau] have a shared mission to support and elevate improvisation,” he said.

“In LA, where I'm from, improv is king, you can't work in comedy without being trained in improvisation.”

“When we had the chance to make this show we thought 'let's give the people we know are hilarious cos they do improv with us every night, a shot at TV'.“

“I think it will be fun to watch a sitcom without one of the six or seven faces you always see on TV... and maybe Channel 5 thought this would be cheaper.”

The show is filmed in a mockumentary style to give the actors a freedom to improvise.

“It connects the audience really quickly to the subject. There's a sense of voyeurism to it.

“Mockumentary is about the things people don't want you to see and there's a vulnerability there.

“Work is so monotonous and it's fun to peer behind that monotony to see the fights, and the pressures on the characters.”

Given the subject matter, they were determined not to avoid the more sensitive aspects of border security.

Mr Orton-Toliver said: “I think comedy is the best at taking on controversial issues, we didn't write a show about border security to duck certain issues; it would be boring to make a show about immigration and borders without taking about those topics.”

After moving to London this year Mr Orton-Toliver said that he's still getting the hang of writing for an English audience.

“I think audiences in the UK are watching with the eye of 'ooh I've seen that before' -  they want to see fresh stuff and challenging things.”

“It's so tough but exciting; you guys are funny and clever and I'm American and dumb.

“My wife is English and she tells me I'm not funny every day.”

Borderline is on Channel 5 from 10pm on Tuesdays from August 2.

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