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Rik Mayall is to make a television comeback as a scheming university professor.

He will play Adonis Cnut - pronounced "Canute" - in a follow-up to his role as sleazy Tory MP Alan B'Stard.

Professor Cnut is reported to be a member of a shadowy underground organisation that plots against new Labour, big business and global power.

He will conduct his machinations from his base at either Oxford or Cambridge universities - the writers are still penning the script.

The professor shares a name with Tony Blair's education adviser, Andrew Adonis, a former Oxford University academic and journalist, and his initials are those of Downing Street spin doctor Alistair Campbell.

The show - a satire on how big business runs the world - is provisionally titled Believe Nothing and is scheduled to be screened next year.