US star Tracey Ullman returns to the BBC
British-born comedian Tracey Ullman is to return to Britain later this year with her own BBC One series.
Ullman rose to fame in the early 1980s amidst the alternative comedy boom, appearing in sketch shows A Kick Up The Eighties alongside the likes of Rik Mayall and Miriam Margolyes, and Three Of A Kind with Lenny Henry and David Copperfield.
Tracey then starred with Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Ruby Wax in the first series of the trio's 1985 ITV sitcom Girls On Top before she emigrated to the USA.
There, she starred in her own series, The Tracey Ullman Show, between 1987 and 1990 - for which The Simpsons was created.
The BBC said today: "After a number of years working in the US, BAFTA and EMMY award winner Tracey Ullman is back home for a brand new series on BBC One.
"The six part series, The Tracey Ullman Show, will feature Tracey portraying a multitude of diverse and distinct characters living in, or visiting, the busy global hub that is the UK.
"Tracey last appeared on the BBC in A Kick Up The Eighties and Three Of A Kind in the early and mid-eighties before emigrating to the States where she enjoys huge success as an actress, writer, producer and director, pushing the boundaries of character comedy."
Tracey said today: "It's a privilege to be doing this. I still feel as inspired to inhabit people as I did when I was six, standing on the windowsill in my mother's bedroom, putting on a show. The BBC has changed a bit since the last time I worked here, when it was all men in bow ties who had completed National Service. Now there are a lot more women. Great ones. The important things haven't changed, though. The BBC still provides an environment that allows you to the freedom to create the best shows possible."
Controller of Comedy Commissioning Shane Allen said today: "It's about time the Americans gave her back. Tracey has been the missing gem in the British comedy crown for too long. Talent doesn't come much bigger and the BBC audience is in for a huge treat."
The Tracey Ullman Show will be produced by Caroline Norris for BBC Comedy and Allan McKeown Presents.