Tony Law and Alex Horne have been confirmed as the first two major guests playing the inaugural Barnard Castle Festival. The Festival will take place in the County Durham town on July 18. 

Law will be performing his brand new show, dubbed Nonsense in Progress, while Horne will be performing an extended version of his 2014 Foster's Award-nominated show Monsieur Butterfly.

Six shows will take place throughout the day in the venue's main hall, with regular intervals so punters can take in the local amenities

The full line-up, which runs between 12pm and 10.30pm, will be revealed in the coming weeks.

Organisers Funny Way To Be are promising a diverse programme for Teesdale's first ever comedy festival, featuring Live At The Apollo stars, an Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee, a 2014 British Comedy Award winner and rising stars of the North East comedy circuit.

There will also be a family comedy show.

Festival Director Peter Dixon said: "We've always tried to extend the boundaries of what we do in terms of producing top quality comedy shows in Barnard Castle.  

"In the last five years we have been increasingly drawing in audience members from all over the North of England. To programme a full day of exceptional comedy so that locals and visitors can see a range of leading comics was, therefore, a natural progression. We are so excited about the line-up that we can hardly wait." 

Earlybird tickets for the inaugural Barnard Castle Comedy Festival are on sale now, priced £45. 

For more details on the festival click here.