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ENGLISH comedy royalty Dawn French is bringing her first Australian tour in eight years to Newcastle.
French will perform at the Civic Theatre on April 19 next year on her Dawn French Is A Huge Twat tour.
The French and Saunders and The Vicar Of Dibley star's last Australian tour featured 38 sold-out shows.
This 11-date tour will visit all capital cities, plus Newcastle and the Gold Coast and promises to offer an insight into some of French's most embarrassing moments on stage and in the public eye.
"This show is so named because unfortunately, it's horribly accurate," French said.
"There have been far too many times I have made stupid mistakes or misunderstood something vital or jumped the gun in a spectacular display of twattery.
"I thought I might tell some of these buttock-clenching embarrassing stories to give Australian audiences a peek behind the scenes of my work life."
French, 65, has been among the top echelon of British comedic talent over the past 35 years.
The ground-breaking comedy show, French & Saunders, with Absolutely Fabulous star Jennifer Saunders, was a verifiable hit in the late '80s and early '90s before French branched out into other successful roles.
They include black comedy Murder Most Horrid, where she often played both murderer and victim in the same episode. This was followed by Richard Curtis' series The Vicar Of Dibley, which attracted over 12 million viewers to its series finale.
French is also a successful author, having written six best-selling books. Her latest book, The Twat Files, is published in October.
Tickets are on sale through Ticketmaster on Thursday at 12pm.