It takes place in the year 2012, aboard HMS Goliath, a Royal Navy stealth nuclear submarine, and follows the trials and tribulations of the submarine's chaotic crew, underneath their inept commanding officer, Captain Paul Wade (played by Jim Field Smith) and his officers Lieutenant Trainor, Weapons Officer (played by Ben Willbond), Commander Alison Fairbanks, second-in-command (played by Katherine Jakeways).
The series has also included a fourth regular character - in season one only this was the innocently seductive Petty Officer Lucy Radcliffe (played by Miranda Raison) and in season two this was Alice Barry, Computer and Weapons Expert (played by Alice Lowe) who was - in contrast to her predecessor - grumpy and uncooperative unless given incentive, but also an expert it most fields.
The series parodies several features of the submarine genre established by The Hunt for Red October and Crimson Tide and as such its announcer is a version of Tom Clancy.
Writing for The Times, Chris Campling compared the programme favourably to the famous Naval radio sitcom The Navy Lark and called Deep Trouble "hilarious".
[2] A TV version for BBC Two was briefly considered but did not come to fruition, with the decision that the show's style of comedy worked better on the radio.