Rita Rudner is to star in a new Radio 4 sitcom about trying to reestablish herself on the UK comedy scene.

The series itself will be her first major British broadcast since 1990, when she starred in her own BBC Two sketch and stand-up series.

It has has been written by Rita and her real-life husband Martin Bergman, the British producer of comedy movie Peter’s Friends, who is also a character in the new sitcom.

In the first episode, which airs at 11.30am on Easter Monday, the pair fly to London where Rudner gets mistaken for a Britain's Got Talent contestant and is forced to work with a failing Cockney comedian who's been chosen as her support act.

Scottish actress Phyllida Law plays the eccentric owner of a hotel where the comedian stays, while Canadian stand-up Mike Wilmot also has a role.

Rudner has mainly performed in Las Vegas since 2001, but came to the UK two years ago to play the Latitude festival and a run at London’s Leicester Square theatre.