Rainbow worrier

Fringe comedy show for Geoffrey

Former Rainbow presenter Geoffrey Hayes is to stage a solo comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe.

His hour-long story, Over The Rainbow, promises to lift the lid on what happened to him after the kiddies' TV show was axed by ITV.

Hayes found it hard to get work in showbiz after the plug was pulled on the show in 1992, and he even found work stacking supermarket shelves.

Publicity describes this new show as: "A story of desertion by his fluffy friends Zippy, George and Bungle - jealousy, hatred, seduction and lies."

It is promoted with a poster, right, showing hippo George crushed by a studio light and the tag line: "For audiences who grew up with Rainbow, but who are now old enough to know the truth!"

The show will take place every night at The Pleasance.

Details emerged as the venue, one of Edinburgh's biggest, announced its Fringe programme.

And Hayes is not the only former kids' TV star performing, as Going Live's Trevor and Simon - who had some success last year with Circus of Evil - are back with a show called Unwigged.

Other comedy highlights in the listings - now on-line at the venue's official website. - include:

Lenny Beige presenting a daily pick of the fringe at 1pm, and creator Steve Furst unveiling six new characters in Celebrity Squares
A new show from poet John Hegley, The Sound Of Paint Drying, which retraces his steps to France to find a scene his father once painted.
Marcus Brigstocke, from BBC2's We Are History, with the sketch show Club Seals and his solo project, modestly entitled The Award-Winning Show.
New shows from Omid Djalili (Behind Enemy Lines), Andy Zaltzman (The Catapult of Truth), Adam Hills (Happy Feet), Brendon Burns (Thinking Man's Idiot), Phil Nichol (Things I Like, I Lick), Daniel Kitson (Something)
Chris Addison tracing the evolution of man in The Ape That Got Lucky
A solo show from The Boosh's Noel Fielding, called Voodoo Hedgehog
Richard Herring's male version of the Vagina Monologues, Talking Cock
Radio recordings from Mark Steele and Mel and Sue
Debut solo shows from Francesca Martinez, Rob Deering, Alan Carr, and Men In Coats
The return of Nicholas Parson's daily chat show