Boyzone star, Corrie villain in Celebrity MasterChef

Boyzone star Shane Lynch, Coronation Street villain Brian Capron and Ade Edmondson are among the stars taking part in the new series of Celebrity MasterChef.

They are on the list of 16 notable figures who will appear in the show when it returns to BBC One, along with actress Denise Black - who is soon to join the cast of Emmerdale - and comics Katy Brand and Shappi Khorsandi.

John Torode and Gregg Wallace will once again put the celebrities through their paces in six challenges over a two-day period which will decide who gets a place in the quarter-finals.

Tasks will include feeding the cast of Cirque De Soleil at The Royal Albert Hall as well as rugby union team Harlequins.

The line-up also features Les Dennis, John Thomson, Mercury Prize-winner Speech Debelle, Heidi Range of Sugababes fame, Janet Street Porter, TV presenter Miranda Krestovnikoff and Jo Wood, the ex-wife of Rolling Stone Ronnie.

And Celebrity MasterChef is completed by a trio of sportsmen - triple jumper Phillips Idowu, cricketer Matthew Hoggard and boxer Joe Calzaghe.

Those who reach the quarter final stage will have to impress past contestants who include 2010 champion Lisa Faulkner and 2011 winner, Phil Vickery.

Celebrity MasterChef executive producer, Carla-Maria Lawson, said: "In this series, the contestants' enthusiasm in their pursuit of the MasterChef trophy is palpable, often inspiring and sometimes very very funny."

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.