Starting on October 21 at 21h30 on BBC Prime on DStv is the first of the half-hour series The Smoking Room.

In the world of work, there is one place where seniority means nothing, where shoptalk is banned, and where a persecuted minority gather regularly to discuss every subject under the sun - the smoking room.

Set entirely in the smoking room of a large company, this eight-part comedy series explores the personal foibles and suppressed longings of an oddly assorted bunch of characters. These individuals wouldn’t normally even socialise together but their shared love of nicotine provides a tenuous link between them all.

There’s the smoking-room fixture with a passion for the postboy; the grouchy security guard; the thick-skinned office Romeo; the terminal paranoiac; the divorcee enjoying a new adolescence; an entirely self-centred emotional wreck; the boss who wants to be popular; and the voice of reason among all the madness.

A top-notch cast includes Paula Wilcox and Siobhan Redmond, plus some other familiar faces - and rising stars - from British comedy.