WESTHOUGHTON actress Maxine Peake will turn fiery for her latest role as former Sun editor Rebekah Brooks.

She has been announced as one of the many famous faces to star in The Comic Strip Presents...The Red Top! which tells the story of an innocent and beguiling northern girl who accidentally becomes chief executive of News International and gets caught up in a seventies Watergate-style scandal.

The comic fantasy brings together a roll call of British comedy greats, including Nigel Planer as Rupert Murdoch and Russell Tovey as Andy Coulson.

Johnny Vegas, Alexei Sayle, Harry Enfield, James Buckley and John Sessions will also star in the film alongside Eleanor Matsuura as Wendi Deng and Stephen Mangan as Tony Blair.

Creator Peter Richardson said: "The Red Top lampoons the phone hacking scandal and the world of politics and press proprietors, and is set in a colourful seventies Boogie Nights style parallel universe with a disco soundtrack. I'm thrilled to have such a fantastic cast. It should be huge fun."

The Red Top — which is a working title — will be the second outing of the Comic Strip on Gold, following the 30th anniversary special The Comic Strip Presents... Five Go To Rehab in 2012, three decades on from the group's debut Five Go Mad In Dorset in 1982.

Commissioning cditor for UKTV Simon Lupton said: "There's nothing quite like The Comic Strip anywhere else in the world of comedy and so it's incredibly exciting to be part of this next chapter.

"The script is wonderfully hilarious and playful, and as always the cast list is an embarrassment of riches. The Comic Strip history is littered with iconic moments, characters and performances, and I'm confident Peter and his team will be creating some more with this latest instalment."

Steve North, general manager for Gold added: "Gold is the nation's go to place for quality comedy and nostalgia, we are delighted to welcome Comic Strip back to the channel and look forward to seeing what anarchy Peter and Pete will bring to the new film about one of the hot news topics of the last 10 years."