'Get out': Fans stunned by Joseph Fiennes' appearance as Michael Jackson in new TV show

Joseph Fiennes plays Michael Jackson in the new satirical comedy. Credit: Sky Arts (L), PA (R)

Michael Jackson fans have reacted with shock and anger to the first pictures of Joseph Fiennes as the pop icon in a new show.

The casting of a white actor to play the singer was heavily criticised as the trailer for the satirical comedy, Urban Myths, was released online.

But Fiennes argued that the choice was appropriate as he was playing Jackson later in life, by which point his skin colour had considerably lightened.

At the time of his casting last year, Fiennes said: "I'm a white, middle-class guy from London. I'm as shocked as you may be."

He added that Jackson "definitely had an issue - a pigmentation issue" and that by the end of his life "was probably closer to my colour than his original color."

Fiennes was surprised to be cast in the role Credit: PA

The half-hour-long programme also stars Stockard Channing as Elizabeth Taylor and Brian Cox as Marlon Brando. It tells the story of a road trip undertaken by the three stars shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Fiennes added: "It's a light comedy look. It's not in any way malicious. It's actually endearing."

Jackson as a child Credit: PA