TORCHWOOD star John Barrowman and a team of celebrities will become global racers in an attempt to retrace the steps of Phileas Fogg for a BBC1 series.
The Glasgow-born actor, who plays Captain Jack Harkness in the popular Doctor Who spin-off, will be joined by stars including Frank Skinner, Myleene Klass and Shane Richie as they strive to recreate the Jules Verne story Around the World in Eighty
Days in a giant relay.
The challenge, for Children In Need, is part of the BBC1 autumn season of programmes, which was announced yesterday.
In the early 1990s Michael Palin started the first of his TV adventures by reliving Fogg's journey. Now the BBC has divided the trip into six legs, each to be undertaken by a pair of stars. Barrowman shares his journey with Myleene Klass, and Skinner is travelling with fellow funnyman Lee Mack.
In the spirit of the original book, the travellers will not be allowed to use planes, but any other form of transport will be acceptable. Children in Need night is 20 November.
The season also sees the eagerly awaited return of Gavin & Stacey. In the third series, Essex boy Gavin tries to adapt to Barry Island life, while his parents, Pam and Mick, learn to cope with an empty nest.
Britain's Got Talent judge Amanda Holden heads the cast in Big Top, a comedy series set in and around a travelling circus. The cast also includes John Thomson, Tony Robinson and Ruth Madoc.
Food writer Nigel Slater fronts a new series, Simple Suppers, in which he will concentrate on easy-to-prepare, home-grown food, and Jimmy's Farm host Jimmy Doherty will investigate the contents of our shopping trolleys in a new series that looks at the science behind mass- produced food.
Strictly Come Dancing returns without judge Arlene Phillips. She has been axed after six series, in favour of retired ballerina Darcey Bussell and singer Alesha Dixon, who won the competition in 2007.
The new BBC season will also see the return of Danniella Westbrook to EastEnders as the original Mitchell sister, Sam, who was last seen bolting off to Brazil after the murder of Dirty Den. Westbrook, who formerly had drugs problems, left in 2000 and was replaced by Kim Medcalf.
A film entitled Wounded sees the Ministry of Defence allowing television cameras to follow wounded soldiers from the moment they are flown back to the UK, right through their treatment at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham and the defence rehabilitation centre at Headley Court, near Epsom in Surrey. The programme explores the reality behind the headlines when British soldiers are reported "very seriously wounded" in Afghanistan.
In particular, the show follows the journeys of a 19-year-old Ranger who, in July 2008, had his right leg blown off and his eyes badly burned by an improvised explosive device, and a 24-year-old lance-corporal, who lost three limbs after moving a booby-trapped sandbag. BBC1 controller Jay Hunt described the film as "extraordinary".
Other highlights include an adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma, with a cast including Jonny Lee Miller and Michael Gambon, and new drama Material Girl, set in the bustling, creative hotbed of London's Brick Lane. It stars Dervla Kirwan as a scheming designer.
Ms Hunt said: "I am passionate about ensuring BBC1 reaches the widest possible audience… I believe this autumn's line-up of shows will do just that."
