Tracey Ullman returning to the BBC in new sketch comedy series

LONDON, March 5 (UPI) -- The BBC says it has ordered six episodes of The Tracey Ullman Show, a new sketch series starring the beloved British comedienne as a "multitude of diverse and distinct characters living in, or visiting, the busy global hub that is the United Kingdom."

"It's a privilege to be doing this," Ullman said in a statement Wednesday. "I still feel as inspired to inhabit people as I did when I was 6, 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 the freedom to create the best shows possible."

"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," added Shane Allen, the BBC's controller of comedy commissioning.

Ullman last appeared on the BBC in A Kick Up the Eighties and Three of a Kind in the early and mid-1980s before emigrating to the United States where she has enjoyed huge success as an actress, writer, producer and director. She was most recently seen in the big-screen movie musical Into the Woods.