Sitcom fans will like what they see on the stage this summer on Portland.

Blackadder 2 will be performed at the Royal Manor Theatre in Fortuneswell from June 24 to 29.

The show stars Gavin Roberts as the scheming Edmund Blackadder with Sue Coleshill as his dung-breathed servant Baldrick and a full cast playing the familiar supporting characters in full period costume.

The stage version covers three stories from the historic second series set in England under Queen Elizabeth in 1588.

The audience is invited to laugh along as Edmund gets himself in a number of scrapes with his cunning plans to curry favour at court, whether as the new minister for "religious genocide" who might have to let the cat out of the bag about getting his beheadings mixed up, through his mixed feelings over his perfect new manservant known as 'Kate' for short, or whilst tweaking the nose of the deadly killer spindly fish on a perilous journey 'round the Cape of Good Hope.

The show is the directorial debut of Chris Wadley, who went to the same school as Lord Percy actor Tim McInnerny in a previous century.

He said: "I'm sure that these stories are familiar old friends to many of the audience, and hope that we shed new light on them for you with our interpretation, an added incentive for which is that staging these plays helps raise funds for the charity Comic Relief."

*Blackadder 2, Royal Manor Theatre, Portland, June 24 to 29. Call the box office for tickets.