BBC One has ordered a new comedy from the Oscar-nominated co-author of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil.

Written by Charles McKeown, Edith will star John Cleese (Fawlty Towers) alongside Alison Steadman and Jason Watkins.

The cast of the six-part series also includes Jessica Hynes, Anne Reid, Rosie Cavaliero, James Cosmo and Peter Egan.

The official synopsis reads: “For Edith (Alison Steadman), life is pretty good. She’s been a widow for some years now, but her children live locally and drop by regularly, and she enjoys daily visits from Phil (John Cleese), an old boyfriend who now lives across the road.

“Phil dreams of marrying Edith, and the pair of them upping sticks and moving abroad to the sunshine. But after months of turning him down, on the happy day Edith finally says “yes”, there’s a knock on the door – and there on the step, with a large suitcase, is her 50 year old son Roger (Jason Watkins). He announces that he’s left his wife, his kids and his good job at the bank, and come home in an attempt to find his lost happiness again. And in a blink, to Edith’s dismay and Phil’s fury, all dreams are on hold.”

Alison Steadman commented: “I’m thrilled to be in Edith and working with such an amazing cast.”

John Cleese added: “These are the most enjoyable scripts I’ve been sent in the last 100 years. It will also be particularly nice to work with Alison again since we joined forces in Clockwise all that time ago.”

Shane Allen, Controller, Comedy Commissioning said: “If you had carte blanche on your fantasy BBC One comedy cast then you’d not be far off the Edith line-up. It’s also a huge pleasure to welcome John Cleese back to the land of BBC sitcom – his last one did alright. This is the cream of British talent giving the BBC One audience the very best comedy on television.”

Are you looking forward to Edith? Let us know below…