Best known for her BBC Radio 4 comedy To Hull and Back, Beaumont takes viewers on a whistle-stop tour of her home city, from the Old Town to the marina, as she explores what makes the city unique. She talks to key figures in this historic year for Hull, including actress Maureen Lipman and writer Richard Bean, and discovers the rich culture that comes alive in Hull.

Throughout the one-off documentary, she explores the legacy of Hull’s foremost cultural figure, the poet Philip Larkin, who helped put Hull on the map, and discovers the more avant-garde side of the city with the performance artist Cosey Fanni Tutti, who invented industrial music with the band Throbbing Gristle.

She also visits local Ferens art gallery, which will host the Turner Prize this year, to see some of the masterpieces from its permanent collection and the exciting artworks on loan this year, including Francis Bacon’s series of paintings known as The Screaming Popes and Spencer Tunick’s iconic mass nude photograph taken in Hull last year.

The documentary also finds out how smaller communities are engaging with City of Culture 2017 as she follows an arts project in which residents are creating a light spectacle, with their high rise blocks being lit up at night in bright colours inspired by maritime flags – a nod to the city’s long heritage as a fishing port.

Beaumont says: “I have always been incredibly proud of my roots in Hull and am thrilled to be fronting this documentary that celebrates and explores the city’s rich heritage and culture.”

Welcome to Hull – City of Culture 2017 will broadcast on BBC Two in February.