Tracey returns with a laugh

SHE was one of Britain's brightest young stars, a wicked talent who could turn her hand to anything – but we let her slip away...

Tracey Ullman was born in Slough in 1959, her Polish father died when she was six and she and her elder sister Patti originally put on shows to cheer up their mother, Dorin. This led her to land a scholarship to the Italia Conti school, although she would eventually become disillusioned with showbusiness.

Nevertheless, Ullman began landing parts in theatre on TV, although an unhappy stint in the drama Mackenzie convinced her to concentrate on comedy – and it's there that she really made her mark.

Ullman became a household name thanks to her partnership with Lenny Henry and David Copperfield in the sketch show Three of a Kind, which began in 1981.

"At that time English women weren't really allowed to be funny on television," she would later claim. "I didn't have any examples. I didn't have a Gilda Radner, Carol Burnett, Lily Tomlin. I mean, my only point of reference, quite honestly, was the Benny Hill girls."

So, she broke the mould, paving the way for the likes of Ruby Wax, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, with whom she worked on the ITV series Girls on Top. "She's just brilliant – a bloodsucker of personalities," says Wax. "You walk away, and she's taken a little bit of your brain."

She also took herself off to the US, following her late husband, producer Allan McKeown, who died in 2013. Originally she intended to concentrate on film and stage work, but ended up with her own TV show, backed by James L Brooks.

"I don't think there's anybody like her, and that a big deal," explains Brooks. "There are parallels to Peter Sellers, an actor who did brilliant sketch comedy."

The Tracey Ullman Show won numerous awards, but is perhaps most famous on this side of the pond for launching The Simpsons, who made their debut in the form of short animations featuring members of her supporting cast. In the years since her US success began, Ullman has rarely worked in the UK, despite maintaining a home here. But now she's back.

"It's a privilege to be doing this," she says. "I still feel as inspired to inhabit people as I did when I was six, standing on the windowsill in my mother's bedroom, putting on a show.

Each edition will see her play a variety of distinct and diverse characters living in, or visiting, our shores.

How To Lose Weight Well (Channel 4, 8pm)

In Britain, around 11 million people – almost one in six of the population – are on some form of diet; many in a bid to slim down for a particular event. In this programme, Dr Xand van Tulleken and dietician Hala El-Shafie help six people go on the most hyped and written about diets on the market, with the volunteers divided into Crashers on short-term regimens, Shape Shifters on six-week programmes, and Life Changers on four-month plans. In the first episode, Katie and Rachael want to slim down before a weekend getaway, and have just ten days to do so.

Benidorm (ITV, 9pm)

THE comedy drama following the escapades of the staff, holiday-makers and revellers of the Solana resort in Spain returns. Sheron and Billy Dawson check in for some pool-side fun, bringing along their teenage son Rob, young daughter Jodie, and Grandad Eddie, to claim the sun-loungers left vacant following the Garveys' departure from the vacation spot. Meanwhile, resort boss Joyce Temple-Savage is desperate for new staff, and must choose between efficient, goody two-shoes Amber and the outrageously flirtation Marcus, and Troy returns to Benidorm with Jacqueline and Kenneth to scatter Donald's ashes in the place he loved best. Julie Graham (Doc Martin, The Bletchley Circle), Steve Edge (Phoenix Nights) and Bobby Knutt (Emmerdale, Heartbeat) join the cast.