STARS of social media, comedy and even wrestling form the lineup for the BBC’s new digital channel for Scotland designed to get the country ‘talking and laughing’.

Wrestler and actor Grado, Instagram sensation Jamie Genevieve and Scots rapper and author Darren McGarvey – known as Loki – will all feature on the channel, set to launch in February next year.

BBC bosses say the lineup at aimed at capturing younger viewers who have grown up familiar with the world of social media.

Among the first commissions for the channel, which will show drama, comedy and sports programmes as well as its signature 9pm, hour-long news programme, is Meet Jamie Genevieve, a show about the beauty and makeup ‘influencer’ who has a million Instagram followers and 42million views on the video site YouTube.

Louise Thornton, commissioning executive for digital and youth, said Ms Genevieve had “completely retained her Scottish identity but is a global star now.”

Loki will also have a documentary series, “taking an alternative tour of Scotland, while other shows include Test Drive, a car-based gameshow presented by Grado.

The channel will run every day from noon to midnight, with 50 per cent of its content being repeats, but will also premiere other BBC material first: including River City, which will be shown on Monday nights ahead of its BBC1 showing on Tuesday, and Scot Squad, which will also premiere on the channel.

BBC Scotland’s commissioning chief Steve Carson said: “Diversity is important, gender and ethnicity obviously, but also age, social background, geography – it is key that we go outside Glasgow for our programmes.

“It’s about providing another view: new voices and new perspectives that might not have been heard - it is about offering alternatives.”