Jamie heads BBC1 comedy line-up

Jamie Theakston is to star in a new BBC1 sitcom

The former kids TV presenter will appear opposite Amanda Holden in Mad About Alice, about a divorced couple.

But the pair still have feelings for each other, and regular contact through their nine-year-old son Joe.

The show is not Theakston's first foray into comedy; he previously played the straightman to Little Britain's Matt Lucas and David Walliams in the spoof BBC Choice series Rock Profiles.

John Gordon-Sinclair and Debra Stephenson will also be appearing in Mad About Alice, which forms part of BBC1's winter line-up.

Other highlights include Doctors And Nurses, starring Adrian Edmondson as an idealistic orthopaedic doctor on the Isle of Wight.

The show was co-written by Dr Phil Hammond, who completed his first stand-up tour, 89 Minutes To Save The NHS, this year.

Getting a second series is Wild West, Simon Nye's critically slated sitcom starring Dawn French and Catherine Tate as Cornish lesbians, and My Family is back, too.

In a new series, Ben Miller and Sarah Alexander star in The Worst Week Of My Life, about the run-up to a wedding, and there will be Bafta tributes to Ronnie Barker and Julie Walters.

Published: 4 Dec 2003