Sir Patrick Stewart has started filming on a new TV show by comedy legend Seth MacFarlane.

Production for the first series of Blunt Talk is now officially underway in Los Angeles, following an official announcement on his Twitter stream.

Several photos were posted on social media, featuring himself, fellow actors and director Jonathan Ames.

Taking on the main role, Sir Patrick will play the character of Walter Blunt, a British broadcaster who is intent on taking over American Cable TV talk shows, despite being plagued by mishaps both on screen and off.

With no other support vehicle around him, Blunt is forced to rely on his alcoholic ‘manservant’, who is played by fellow Brit, Adrian Scarborough.

Blunt Talk is being produced by Seth MacFarlane, who was the brains behind American comedies Family Guy, American Dad and Ted.

It represents the latest partnership between Sir Patrick and Seth, who he worked with on all three shows.

The 10 half-hour shows currently being shot will mark the first of two seasons that have been secured for the series, which will begin to air on US channel Starz later this year.

Sir Patrick Stewart with Blunt Talk series creator and director, Jonathan Ames

Following the first days of filming Sir Patrick was described by the series creator Jonathan Ames in an interview with American magazine, Variety.

He said: “Sir Patrick was noble, loony, and heroic. And that was before the first shot. Later, in character as Walter Blunt, he was all those things and more.”

It marks a return to comedy for the Mirfield-born star after the release of his latest film, Match, which focuses on the emotional life of a dance professor in New York.

The series will be the first of several features starring Sir Patrick to hit the screens this year.

They also include the thriller Green Room, about a group of musicians who inadvertently become witnesses to a vicious attack, and the romantic comedy Stuck, which will debut in November and follows a group of New Yorkers from different communities who become trapped in a lift on Christmas Eve.