The comedian will return to his stand-up roots for the series

The Chef star, 47, will tour the UK to discover what makes people laugh, and what that reveals about the British.

"This is a very exciting project for me, as I'm going to be travelling back to some of the places where I began my career," said Henry.

Lenny's Britain will also feature academics analysing the UK's sense of humour, and will be broadcast in 2007.

The academics will examine jokes submitted by the public in a "travelling joke booth", which tours England in August and September.

'One big joke'

"We'll be analysing the component parts of what it is that makes a story funny," said Marie Gillespie, a sociology lecturer and the series's chief academic advisor.

She said the programme, a co-production with the Open University, would take "the pulse of the nation to find out what makes us laugh both individually and collectively". "Are there themes or jokes that recur? Is there one big joke in Britain today?"

Henry revealed that he was to give up making TV sketch shows last year.

The comedian, who rose to fame after winning the New Faces talent competition in 1975, said he would instead concentrate on stand-up comedy and developing sitcoms.

He will perform new material at a series of gigs later this year, which will be filmed for the documentary series.