Jo Brand is writing an ITV sitcom about a group of nuns - after finishing her first novel.

The comic will also star in the convent-based show, alongside Honor Blackman as the mother superior.

But she admitted she had to recruit help from co-writer Gerry McNulty, after coming to the conclusion that she wasn't cut out to be a comedy writer.

"I started off writing it on my own," she told Teletext. "But then I realised that I was rubbish at writing plot. It was just a string of jokes."

"The nuns are all middle-aged and elderly women and live in a really run-down place."

Meanwhile, her first novel, a black comedy called Sorting Billy Out, will be published in May.

She also talked of her desire to be a role model for female stand-ups, saying: "I would never make it a priority to appeal to men. They already have a large number of male comedians catering to them.

"The men who take umbrage at my material don't like women very much and they have their own kinds of comics like Jim Davidson and Bernard Manning."

• Jo Brand's DVD Barely Live is out now. The cheapest we've found is £13.99 (£6 off) at Benson's World. Click to buy.