Hannah Waddingham, James McAvoy and Jim Broadbent Join Corden and Jones in Apple's The Choir
Hannah Waddingham, James McAvoy and Jim Broadbent will guest star in The Choir, the new Apple TV series from James Corden and Ruth Jones. Deadline reported the three castings on 6 October 2026. Cameras were already rolling on the production.
The story follows Ben and Lisa, a brother and sister played by Corden and Jones. Ben returns to their small English town after years living abroad. He has been estranged from his family for a long time. That difficult homecoming sits at the centre of the series.
Waddingham, McAvoy and Broadbent join as guest stars, meaning they appear in limited roles rather than as full-time series regulars. Their characters have not been disclosed in the announcement. The three names join a project that is led on screen by its two creators, Corden and Jones, working as brother and sister.
They join a large ensemble cast built around those two leads. The line-up includes Tom Davis, Rosie Sheehy, Susan Brown, Jason Watkins and David Harewood. It also includes Alexandria Riley, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Tom Edden, Gary Lamont and Emily Lloyd-Saini. Stephen Leask, Luiis Rouf, Jo Foster, Evie Jones and Farrah Abbassy complete the group named so far. An ensemble, in television terms, means a wide company of supporting actors who share substantial storylines alongside the leads.
What makes this stand out is the scale of that company. Two siblings anchor the story. Three high-profile guest stars drop into it. Fifteen other actors are already named around them. For a story set in one small town, that is a crowded street.
Behind the camera, The Choir is produced for Apple TV by Various Artists Limited and TidyTwo, the production company run by Jones. Phil Clarke, Jack Bayles, Jones and Corden serve as executive producers, the senior team who oversee creative direction and key decisions on a series. Jennifer Sheridan and Jim Archer are set to direct, Deadline reported. Directors guide performances and shape each episode on set and in the edit.
Production was under way as of October 2026. The series is expected to air next year. No episode count or exact launch date has been announced yet. Shows of this kind usually film well in advance, leaving months for editing, music, and finishing before release.
For viewers, the picture is now much clearer. Corden and Jones are acting together as family. A full street of neighbours and relatives is cast. With filming in progress, The Choir has moved from an announced idea to a working set with a crew, scripts, and a town to come home to.
