Gavin and Stacey star Ruth Jones is to be in an upcoming comedy television series about ramblers called The Great Outdoors.

Jones, who co-wrote the hit comedy series, will play a lead role opposite Mark Heap in the show which the BBC says will follow the "hikes, heartaches, friendships and rivalries of a group of ramblers".

The three-part series will screen in the summer on BBC Four as part of the station’s outdoor season.

BBC executive producer Paul Schlesinger said: "Rambling is such a great British institution. It’s a brilliant subject for a character comedy."

Mr Schlesinger added that in Jones and Heap, the show had secured two of the country’s most accomplished comedy actors that will attract viewers to the programme.

Rambling-loving duo Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley, who have previously worked on shows such as Black Books and Armstrong and Miller, are the show’s writers and the series is to be filmed on handheld cameras to offer the viewer a true sense of what it is like to walk in some of Britain’s most scenic locations.