Funny Scot joins Kiwi drama cast

He's known as a master of improv but Scottish actor and funnyman John Sessions will be sticking to the script this week as he stars opposite Outrageous Fortune's Antony Starr in an original Kiwi drama.

Sessions, one of the original Whose Line is it Anyway? cast members, will feature in the South Pacific Pictures production Spies and Lies, which began filming in Auckland this week.

The wartime drama, commissioned by TVNZ, is based on the true story of Syd Ross, who conned Prime Minister Peter Fraser into believing his tall tales about a Nazi plot to invade New Zealand.

Starr will play Ross, opposite Sessions as the British head of New Zealand's Security Intelligence Bureau.

Directed by Simon Bennett, the tele-movie will feature a host of local talent, including Starr's Outrageous Fortune co-stars Antonia Prebble and Roz Turnball, and Go Girls' Ingrid Park and Steven Lovatt.

The production will screen as part of TV One's Sunday Theatre line up next year.