John Cleese to return to BBC in new comedy series 'Edith'

April 11 (UPI) -- Alison Steadman, John Cleese and Jason Watkins are set to star in a six-part comedy called Edith on the BBC.

"For Edith, 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, an old boyfriend who now lives across the road," the British broadcaster said in press notes.

"I'm thrilled to be in Edith and working with such an amazing cast," Steadman said in a statement Tuesday.

"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," added Cleese.

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

Edith is written by Charles McKeown, a frequent collaborator of Terry Gilliam, Cleese's fellow Monty Python comedy troupe member. It is being directed by Sandy Johnson. .