Sue Perkins and Ricky Tomlinson among the TV stars heading to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Great British Bake Off presenter, new Daily Show host Trevor Noah and Scottish actor John Hannah will all perform at this year's festival, not to mention a Game of Thrones musical and a one-man show about Star Trek
We know the Edinburgh Festival is supposed to be about happening upon the next big thing in a back street pub, but among the 50,459 performances taking place all over the Scottish capital this summer, it's nice to know there are some familiar faces.
From Great British Bake Off to Game of Thrones to Star Trek, 2015's Fringe isn't short of film and TV talent – and we're not even counting the stand-up comedy headliners like Jo Brand, Frankie Boyle, Al Murray and many, many, many more.
Here are the film and TV stars taking to the stage in Edinburgh this summer.
Sue Perkins
The Great British Bake Off presenter will once again be back at the Fringe to present BBC2's festival highlights show, the highlight of which will be Sue Perkins' Big Night Out on 22nd August, a free BBC event featuring everything the festival has to offer (well, as much as you can fit into a two-hour show at any rate).
Trevor Noah
Squeezed in just before the South African takes over from Jon Stewart as the new host of The Daily Show, comedian Trevor Noah has three nights of stand-up booked in at the Edinburgh Assembly Hall. In a nifty bit of cross cultural cooperation, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is hoping to secure a place on The Daily Show when she visits the USA later this month.
John Hannah
The Four Weddings and Touch of Cloth actor will be making his first stage appearance in his home country for 25 years this August, when he stars in comedy production The Titanic Orchestra. Hannah plays a dishevelled, mysterious illusionist who tells four tramps by the side of a railway line that he is in fact the Great Houdini.
Ricky Tomlinson
The Royle Family star is set to make his Fringe debut at the tender age of 75 when he appears in conversation in one-off show Ricky Tomlinson: Guilty My Arse. The show will tell how he was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison for his part in picketing a strike in 1973 when he was a builder. "The trial in 1973 lasted 55 days and in today’s money cost around £10 million," the show's description says. "Why won’t the government release the papers after 42 years? Why does Kenneth Clarke MP not want the files reviewed until 2021? What was McAlpine's part in bringing the charges?"
Freddie Flintoff
Another festival debut, this time for former England cricketer Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff. The player will celebrate ten years since his Ashes victory with his friend, comedy and podcast producer Clyde Holcroft for three nights in August. When we say 'celebrate', we don't necessarily mean a piss-up on a pedalo... although that may well come up in conversation.
Game of Thrones
You've seen the US Red Nose Day Coldplay version, but did you know there is already a Game of Thrones musical? Theatre company Backwards Anorak will bring Winter is Coming. Again to the Gilded Balloon throughout August.
Star Trek
It's a mantra Sheldon Cooper would be proud of: What Would Spock Do? The new show promises to be an "uplifting new comedy about love, Star Trek, and learning to accept who you are – no matter how much of a loser it makes you."
The Apprentice
Not Katie Hopkins?? Well, no, not exactly, but the controversial former Lord Sugar scourge and columnist does provide rich material for one show, 101 Reasons Why I #@%$ Katie Hopkins, which attempts to work out "which four letter word suits the title best".
The Following
Brit actor Sam Underwood and US star Valorie Curry, who appear together in US drama The Following, will be starring together in romantic WW2 drama One Day When We Were Young by British playwright Nick Payne.
