Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi Heading to British TV in New Comedy Vicious

Gandalf is getting a TV show! Tony Award winners Sir Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi will tackle the small screen in ITV’s Vicious, a new British comedy from producer Gary Janetti (Family Guy, Will & Grace) and playwright Mark Ravenhill, reports Deadline.

The program follows Freddie and Stuart, two men who have shared a small apartment in Covent Garden together for nearly 50 years. Freddie was a former actor and Stuart a barman, but both men now squabble and bicker as they live out their lives with their dog. Frances De La Tour will play the duo’s best friend. The show will air on ITV in 2013.

McKellen is known to film audiences from his roles in The Lord of the Rings series, the upcoming film adaptation of The Hobbit and the X-Men franchise, but the classical actor has a host of hefty theater credits to his name as well. In addition to waxing Magneto, McKellen appeared on Broadway in 1981’s Amadeus (winning a Tony for Best Actor in a Play) as well as in Wild Honey, Dance of Death and Ian McKellen: Acting Shakespeare.

Jacobi won a 1985 Tony for his role as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. The esteemed thesp was also nominated for his Broadway turn in Breaking the Code and has appeared in Uncle Vanya, Cyrano de Bergerac (as the title role) and The Suicide.