Djalili lands major BBC show

Plans to revitalise BBC ONE as the home of comedy (Ed. comedy kips anywhere it can) are pushing ahead, with news that comic Omid Djalili is to write and appear in his own stand-up and sketch show.

The six-part series will feature sketches and stand-up and 'is a uniquely adult look at contemporary issues from identity, multi-culturalism to death, sex and religion', they say.

It's the first fruits of an initiative that saw six comedy pilots being commissioned earlier this year. And execs liked Omid's so much, they ordered a full run.

BBC ONE controller Peter Fincham said: 'The moment I saw his pilot I wanted to go ahead to series. I think audiences will love him.'

He added: 'He's definitely the best British-Iranian comic around.' Although that is, admittedly, quite a limited field!

Omid said: 'All I've ever wanted to do is to bring world peace through stand-up comedy ... and now that I've done that, I can concentrate on my new BBC ONE comedy series. I shall invoke the spirit of Dave Allen.'