The Belfast Telegraph, which seems to have become the hotbed of “all-things related to British television” lately, is reporting that Dawn French will be returning to the stage in the not-too-distant future. With her most recent post-Vicar of Dibley, post-Jam and Jerusalem, post-Psychoville, return to television with the great Alfred Molina in Roger and Val Have Just Got In having completed filming of the second season with a Fall 2011 target transmission date on BBC Two, her next project involves the stage and…a puppet.

Fresh off the publication of her first novel, A Tiny Bit Marvellous, and a much-publicized diet, the British comedy star told the Telegraph, “I can’t resist it. I don’t think Jennifer wants to, so no more French and Saunders touring but I want to do a one woman show, in fact I’m planning one now and I’ve got to write it and I want to do it with a puppet, they are called Handspring puppets, the ones who made puppets for War Horse, serious puppets with four people operating it.”

A side note, these Handspring puppets are life-sized puppet horses that were used in the original stage production of the First World War story which is now being made into a film by Steven Spielberg. Here’s an early look at the evolution of (and genius behind) the Handspring puppets as they were presented to a recent TED conference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7u6N-cSWtY