The director of a cult comedy show says he is delighted to end a five year search for a permanent home.

The Treason Show's Mark Brailsford has confirmed that his sketch show will take up permanent resident in the new Rialto Theatre in Brighton currently being renovated by Pretty Villain Productions.

The funnyman said that the announcement was great news in a year where he has been to “hell and back” after suffering a seventh disappointment in searching for a new venue and seeing 14 years of props go up in smoke earlier this year.

Mr Brailsford said the move will mean that the much-loved cult show will have a permanent venue for monthly shows and will allow Treason Productions to promote on new talent.

The troupe hope to announce an opening show for the theatre in Dyke Road, Brighton, for later this month but are still awaiting final confirmation from Brighton and Hove City Council.

A Christmas Special, That Was The Year That Was, will be held at the Brighton Dome from December 27 to December 31 - an agreement signed in July before the Rialto dream had become a reality.

As an avid Albion fan, Mr Brailsford said it was an added bonus to be moving into the site that was once home to Albion defender Steve Foster's bar Fossie's.

He said he might have to mark the fact by putting a signature headband from the Albion legend in the new venue.

The Treason Show began in Brighton in 2000 and features the work of more than 50 writers.

Mr Brailsford had tried to open his own theatre in seven different venues across the city over the past five years, including The Terraces on Brighton seafront, but faced insurmountable problems each time.

Fourteen years of props from the show went up in smoke at a fire at his parents' garage in Lancing in June.

Mr Brailsford said: “It's great to have a permanent home because previously nobody knew from one month to the next when we were going to be on next and where we were going to be.

“Showbusiness is a febrile, untamed animal and sometimes it has felt like I was trying to tame an animal in a cage with a chair and whip except that they had taken my chair and whip away and I didn't have any clothes on.

“But the support I have had has been fantastic with people coming up to me in the street and saying you must keep going and that has given me the strength to carry on.”