Liam Rudden: Four shows to see when the Fringe returns in August...

As shows go on sale earlier and earlier (check out www.edfringe.com) and venue press offices churn out details of the headline acts they are expecting, there hardly seems any point having a programme launch these days; that’s scheduled for 6 June, by the way.

Looking through the information that’s already out there, here are four of the shows to have caught my eye.

AS SEEN ON BLUE PETER

At the Assembly Rooms, as I revealed a few weeks back, Blue Peter legends Peter Purves, Janet Ellis, Peter Duncan, Mark Curry, Tim Vincent and a surprise guest celebrate the diamond anniversary of the ground-breaking children’s TV series.

Described as ‘a blisteringly funny and poignant tribute to a much-loved TV family favourite’, the show will run from 4-26 August, daily at 2.50pm.

The Blue Peter legends are not the only children’s TV presenters heading to town this August either... here’s a clue, ‘Bogies!’

DICK v DOM

Yes, Dick and Dom aka multi BAFTA-winning presenters Richard ‘Dick’ McCourt and Dominic ‘Dom’ Wood also make their Fringe debut in a family show described as ‘everything you would expect from these two’.

In the show, with the audience split in half to battle it out, there will be games, songs, mess, insanity and, of course, bogies! Join the mayhem at Underbelly, Bristo Square, daily at 1pm.

HARPY

Another popular name coming to town is veteran actress and funny woman Su Pollard, who also makes her Fringe debut.

Harpy is a new play about hoarding, from Fringe First-winner Philip Meeks, which tells the story of Birdie, a hoarder the neighbours call a harridan and a harpy, although most have never met her.

What they see as rubbish, she considers her life’s work. It exists because of something deeply cherished that was stolen many years before... and Birdie’s not given up anything since.

You can catch Su, triumphant after her stint on the ITV series Last Laugh In Vegas, at Underbelly on the Cowgate from 2-26 August (not 13), daily at 4pm.

SINATRA: RAW

Finally, for now, one-time Emmerdale star (he played the charmingly murderous Dr Adam Forsythe) Richard Shelton, returns to the Capital in his new play, Sinatra: RAW.

Set in Palm Springs, 1971, Sinatra: RAW shows Old Blue Eyes drinking, reminiscing and singing at 2am… it’s the Sinatra you dream of meeting, dangerous, unpredictable and startling.

You can catch the crooner in relaxed mood at Frankenstein’s pub on George IV Bridge, where Shelton sold out last year in his one-man show.

So, in the words of old blue eyes himself, start spreading the news, nothing works better than good old word of mouth come Fringe time.