Gervais and Cleese team up

Ricky Gervais and John Cleese are teaming up for a comedy sketch to mark the opening of ITV1's Avenue of the Stars, Britain's equivalent of the Hollywood Walk of Fame

New names, including the Sex Pistols and the late actress Dame Thora Hird, were announced today for the permanent walkway in London's Covent Garden.

Gervais, creator of TV hits Extras and The Office, is writing and preparing the sketch with Cleese in California, where the Fawlty Towers star now lives.

The sketch will be produced by Terry Hughes, the British TV comedy director whose CV includes Friends, The Two Ronnies, The Golden Girls, and Monty Python At The Hollywood Bowl.

Executive producer Michael Hurll, who devised the walkway, said: "It's fantastic for us to have got two such great names together and I really can't wait to see the results.

"When we first discussed the idea I was thrilled but never in my wildest dreams did I have imagine it would actually happen."

ITV, which is launching the walkway to mark its 50th anniversary, is keeping more names secret until its live show on Sunday.

But famous faces announced today include Richard Burton, Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Benny Hill, Cary Grant, Michael Gambon, and Bob Hope.

Others names are Tom Jones, Peter O'Toole, Albert Finney, Peter Cook, Morecambe and Wise, Sir John Mills, Stan Laurel, Noel Coward and Leonard Rossiter.

At the unveiling, 1,000 celebrities will get a place on the walkway, but further names will be added each year.

The stars can be awarded posthumously and must have been born in the UK or Commonwealth for their names to be emblazoned on the walkway on a silver star.

The avenue, set in the grounds of St Paul's, known as the actor's church, will be launched in a three-hour live ITV1 show on Sunday, complete with a fireworks display on the Thames.

Names previously announced include Sir Alec Guinness, Sir Alfred Hitchcock, Sir Charlie Chaplin, Peter Sellers, Sir Rex Harrison, Nicole Kidman and Lord Laurence Olivier.

Names announced today:

Alan Bennett
Michael Palin
Tom Jones
Bob Geldof
Peter O'Toole
Albert Finney
Kenneth Branagh
Michael Gambon
Paul Eddington
Bob Hope
Edith Evans
Dame Alicia Markova
Sir Trevor McDonald
Dame Margot Fonteyn
Peggy Ashcroft
David Niven
Arthur Lowe
Tony Hancock
Ralph Richardson
Peter Cook
Morecambe and Wise
Sir John Mills
Stan Laurel
The Sex Pistols
Julie Walters
Lenny Henry
Victoria Wood
Alan Bates
Richard Burton
Sir Ian McKellen
Errol Flynn
Les Dawson
Gracie Fields
Nigel Hawthorne
Glenda Jackson
Dame Judi Dench
Peter Ustinov
Charles Laughton
Cary Grant
Sir Dirk Bogarde
Frankie Howerd
John Gielgud
Benny Hill
Dame Thora Hird
Sir Noel Coward
Leonard Rossiter
Names previously revealed:
Lord Olivier
Tommy Cooper
The Rolling Stones
Nicole Kidman
Billy Connolly
Sir Charlie Chaplin
Peter Sellers
Dame Shirley Bassey
Ant and Dec
Dame Edna Everage
The Two Ronnies
Ricky Gervais
Sir Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alec Guinness
Sir Rex Harrison
John Cleese