With a late-night show featuring a host of guest comedians

Harry Hill is to return to Channel 4 for a new late-night series featuring a raft of fellow comedians.

The comic will act as both host and curator of  the acts on the as-yet-unnamed show, which will air at 11pm. 

Each of the six hour-long episodes will be recorded during the week of transmission in front of an audience.

And the broadcaster promises a mix of established and new acts, explaining: ‘Performances on the night could take the form of an interview with Harry, audience participation, regular returning comedy segments or simply taking to the floor to do their act. 

‘However, given Harry’s reputation for the more anarchic, it promises to be full of surprises.’

Ed Havard, Channel 4’s head of entertainment said: ‘I’m thrilled that a huge star like Harry is excited by the opportunities in our new 11pm slot.  

‘We’ve wanted to work with him for a very long time - he has always been a champion of new comedy talent and with Harry at the helm, the series is a fantastic chance to introduce a raft of the best new faces to Channel 4’s audience"  

Hill added: ‘Channel 4 gave me my first break all those years ago - it’ll be great to bring some of my favourite new comics to a wider audience! Stouffer the cat’s thrilled too.’

Hill had his own Channel 4 show from 1997 to 2000, having cut his teeth on the Radio 4 show Harry Hill's Fruit Corner and BBC Two black-and-white silent series Fruit Fancies.

He left the channel to host TV Burp, which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2012. Subsequent shows have included the panel show Alien Fun Capsule for ITV and the cookery-based Tea Time for Sky 1.

Last year, Hill filmed a sitcom pilot for BBC One with Jennifer Saunders playing his mother – despite being only six years older than him  in real life.

Channel 4 also tonight confirmed the Mr Swallow pilot from Nick Mohammed, as Chortle exclusively revealed in June last year.

Made by: Nit Television production, the joint venture between Harry Hill and CPL Productions 
Commissioned by: Ed Havard, head of entertainment at Channel 4 and Tom Beck, head of live events and commissioning editor for entertainment. 
Executive producers: Harry Hill, Mobashir Dar, Danielle Lux and Murray Boland.       

Published: 30 Jan 2019