Russell Brand set for TV return

Russell Brand is returning to British TV with his first show since the Sachsgate scandal.

Brand X, described as the star's "unfiltered take on current events, politics and popular culture", starts next month.

The comic has featured on TV since his 2008 fall from grace, but the unscripted show is his first extended run on the small screen since then.

Brand and Jonathan Ross faced a storm of criticism after they left lewd messages on the answering machine of veteran actor Andrew Sachs.

The furore led to Brand resigning from his BBC Radio 2 show and Ross being suspended from the BBC for three months.

Ross later quit the BBC and said one reason was to avoid the "sheer volume of negative press" he was attracting to the corporation.

Brand's career has gone from strength to strength since he headed for the United States in the wake of the scandal.

He has appeared in Hollywood hits Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him To The Greek, and written two best-selling memoirs.

His marriage to Katy Perry and the pair's subsequent break-up has consistently kept him in the headlines.

The new show is filmed in the US and will be broadcast on Sky Atlantic.