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Festival favourite Alan Davies returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year for one week only to try to sift through the frazzled hollow mass of his head for new stories and jokes.

There will be work but will there be progress?

In the event of a lull he will show you what you could have won by doing some old stuff that's properly funny.

Alan began his career in stand-up comedy in 1988 and was runner-up in the City Limits New Act of the Year contest 1989. He was named Time Out Best Young Comic in 1991 and made his network television debut on Tonight with Jonathan Ross in 1992. In 1993 two appearances on Channel 4's Viva Cabaret led to a nomination for a British Comedy Award as Best Newcomer.

In 1994 he won an Edinburgh Festival Critics Award for Comedy and a Perrier Award Nomination and the following year he appeared at the Montreal, Melbourne and Auckland Comedy Festivals and was nominated for a British Comedy Award as Best Stand-Up Comedian.

In 1996 he took the eponymous role of Jonathan Creek, written by David Renwick. The show continues to attract huge audiences and has won numerous awards, including a BAFTA and a National TV Award.

In 2002, he starred in Auntie and Me by Morris Panych for another sell-out season in Edinburgh before transferring to the Wyndham's Theatre for a four month West End run. That same year Alan took part in a comedy pilot hosted by Stephen Fry. QI has subsequently run every year since 2003.

The lead role in two series of the ITV1 legal drama, The Brief, followed, and in 2009 Penguin published his first book, My Favourite People 1978-1988 which was adapted into a three part documentary series for Channel 4 called Teenage Revolution (also the title for the paperback).

In 2010 he took the lead role of chef Roland White in the BBC2 sitcom Whites and in 2011 Alan co-wrote and starred in a short film for Sky One as part of their Little Crackers Christmas.

Alan starred in a new series of Jonathan Creek in 2014 and has just finished recording a new series of QI and the second series of his hugely popular show As Yet Untitled (Dave).