Gary Barlow has headed a team of composers working on a new musical drama, Britannia High, which is set in a UK performing arts school

ITV is to bring back variety shows for its autumn season in a bid to win the Saturday night prime-time ratings war.

For One Night Only - the centrepiece of the new schedule - will feature music and entertainment from some of the bestknown stars in showbusiness.

Produced by the team behind the Royal Variety Performance and Saturday Live, it is being billed as combining 'exciting hosts with top-quality comedy, dazzling speciality acts and massive music stars'.

Each week the show will be fronted by two different hosts and will feature a 'glittering showpiece finale' involving all the week's guests.

It follows the success of Britain's Got Talent, which reintroduced variety acts to ITV's weekend prime-time.

It also comes in the wake of a long line of iconic ITV variety shows such as Sunday Night at the London Palladium in the 1950s and 1960s and Live from the Palladium in the late 1980s as well as New Faces in the 1970s and 1980s.

An ITV source said: 'It will feature a must-see mix of international talent, tapping into established stars alongside cutting-edge newer acts.'

As part of the new entertainment line-up, a one-off comedy show entitled We Are Most Amused will bring together talent from the past 60 years to mark the Prince of Wales's 60th birthday and to raise funds for the Prince's Trust.

Also in the schedule is Britannia High, a musical drama set in a UK performing arts school.

The show's director of choreography Arlene Phillips and theatre producer David Ian devised the idea for the series alongside a team of composers headed by Take That's Gary Barlow.

The cast play a group of six students and the series will climax in a 90-minute finale which takes the form of an end-of-term students' showcase.

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Also in drama, Lost in Austen is a reinvention of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

The novel's story is thrown offtrack by a disillusioned modern heroine played by Jemima Rooper - who swops places with Elizabeth Bennett, played by Gemma Arterton and takes centre stage in the romance.

The cast also stars Elliot Cowan as Mr Darcy and Hugh Bonneville and Alex Kingston as Mr and Mrs Bennett.

In Mr Eleven, Michelle Ryan, Sean Maguire and Adam Garcia star as three characters caught up in a love triangle.

Old favourites making their return include I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!, Harry Hill's TV Burp and Al Murray as the Pub Landlord.

The new season is also underpinned by football action featuring key matches from the Champion's League.

Peter Fincham, ITV director of programmes, said: 'We are kicking off the autumn with the best of national and international football - ITV1 will be the home of the FA Cup, England internationals and the UEFA Champions League for the next four years.'