Only Murders in the Building season six signs guest stars David Tennant, Nicola Coughlan and Geri Halliwell

As the body count racks up, so too do the residents of the titular building. Although, technically, it won’t be THE building, presumably.

At the end of Only Murders in the Building’s previous season, the comedy-mystery teased its next puzzle would take the core trio of Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez to old London town, and now the cast list is filling up with some of your favourite British and Irish stars.

Today, the production added to its ensemble Nicola Coughlan, Richard Ayoade, Jim Broadbent and not one but two Doctors Who in David Tennant and Jodie Whittaker.

They join previously announced guest and recurring stars such as Martin Freeman, Geri Halliwell-Horner aka Ginger Spice, Jennifer Saunders, Sharon Horgan, Jamie Demetrious, Derek Jacobi, Jane Horrocks and Simone Ashley.

That call sheet is a veritable who’s-who of famous faces from that part of the world. Of course, the big question is, will Ginger Spice be playing herself?

The series has previously featured celebrities portraying fictionalised versions of themselves, including Eva Longoria, Zach Galifianakis and Eugene Levy.

As usual, the series was left on a cliffhanger at the previous season’s end, setting up a new mystery to be solved. In this case, it was the killing of Cinda Canning, a podcaster character played by Tina Fey.

Cinda had a new crime podcast called The Girl with the Curls, which was set in the UK. So, her death seems to be connected with that case, which is what will take the trio of sleuths across the Atlantic.

Even though Cinda has been killed off, previous victims have been a recurring presence in their seasons through flashbacks so don’t think you’ve seen the last of Fey.

Remember, Paul Rudd not only played his character, Ben Glenroy, in the second season, he also returned in the fourth season as a different character, and as the voice of a robot in the fifth.

Only Murders in the Building likes to keep their friends around.

The series has become one of the flanks of Hulu’s programming this decade, a starry and pacey murder mystery comedy that sails on the combined charisma of Martin, Short and Gomez, whose intergenerational forces makes for a surprising and charming dynamic.

In the first season, they play neighbours who discover their shared love of true crime podcasts, and when a death occurs inside their building, they team up to solve the murder, and launch their own podcast.

Each subsequent season has had to contrive another death within the building, which becomes a point of comedy in and of itself. With the Cinda death, she technically died on the footpath outside, and in a moment of meta commentary, her hand then flexes and grabs the gates of the Arconia, the fictional complex within the show.

The title stands!

Speaking to TV Line at the conclusion of the fifth season, showrunner and co-creator John Hoffman said the next chapter is a soft reset.

“It’s fair to say it’s an entirely new setting next year,” Hoffman said. “Season five was so centralised in the Arconia – its history, its future, everything was on the line for that building.

“We went down the road of ‘what does home really mean to this trio?’ and ‘what do we fight for?’. Once we did that, it felt right to shake it up and put our trio in a completely different situation – one that makes perfect sense for our show and adds a jolt of the unexpected.”

Only Murders in the Building have always been able to attract high profile guest and recurring cast, in part because of Martin and Short’s longstanding relationships in the industry. Then, as the series grew in popularity, it became catnip for celebs.

Past guest stars have also included Meryl Streep, Nathan Lane, Renee Zellweger, Kumail Nanjiani, Jane Lynch, Tea Leoni, Bobby Cannavale, Keegan-Michael Key, Dianne Wiest and Christopher Waltz.

The series will return later this year. While there is no confirmed date yet, previous instalments have premiered around August.