91Èȱ¬

CBeebies legend Justin Fletcher is about to get the nation's under-sixes laughing their socks off with his collection of crazy comedy characters in brand new series Gigglebiz.

Set to screen in high definition in September, Gigglebiz is CBeebies' first ever live action sketch show and features around 250 sketches, all featuring the award-winning presenter and entertainer.

Known to his millions of fans as Mr Tumble and the presenter of CBeebies' Something Special, Bafta winner and MBE Justin breathes life into 20 madcap new characters in Gigglebiz.

The series of 25 episodes is a rambunctious collection of short, simple, funny sketches packed with hilarious and eccentric individuals including: King Flannel – a decrepit old rogue with a penchant for trying to outwit his butler; The Berito Brothers – a slightly faded troupe of past-their-best acrobats (two of them have still got what it takes but the third – Justin – most definitely hasn't); Gail Force – a glamorous weather reporter with an uncanny knack of forecasting weather conditions which happen only to her; and Rapids Johnson, an intrepid explorer who never quite manages to find the animal he's seeking, even thought it's usually behind him.

"With 20 characters in all, let's be honest, this is just a big excuse for me to dress up in funny costumes every day and be silly," says Justin Fletcher.

"It's such brilliant fun to do. We gave some characters a test run in the summer with a pilot show and feedback was really strong, so I'm so excited to be back with a full series! You could say I'm truly in the biz of making them giggle!"

With so much material to write producer Michael Towner commissioned writers from 91Èȱ¬ Entertainment's Comedy School to work alongside CBeebies' more traditional writing squad and Justin himself on Gigglebiz.

Their combined writing credits include work on shows such as Have I Got News For You, The 11 O'Clock Show, Dead Ringers, Armstrong And Miller, Bremner, Bird And Fortune and The Friday Night Project.

Controller of CBeebies, Michael Carrington, said: "I thought it was time for a proper comedy sketch show for children and Justin is the perfect man for it. He's got such a gift for comedy, writing, slapstick and inventing silly characters.

"Meanwhile, we've pulled together some of the nation's best young comedy writing talent to create the series and we're taking our comedy very seriously!

"Combining their ideas with Justin's unique performance gifts, I'm sure Gigglebiz will have our young viewers giggling and guffawing away on the sofa."

Gigglebiz is a CBeebies production. The executive producer is Alison Stewart.

FW