Johnny Vegas for CBBC puppet show

Rex Features

Johnny Vegas is to star in a new puppet-based comedy series for CBBC, it has been announced.

Dead Puppets Society, airing in 2011, sees Vegas juggle his day-to-day showbiz career with his secret life as a hunter of puppets that have risen from the grave.

Vegas said: "I relish the opportunity to bring my own sense of the anarchic to where I think it may well best be appreciated."

CBBC has also announced Junior MasterChef, a new singing competition fronted by The Choir's Gareth Malone and a new comedy starring Rufus Hound.