IT is the festival that keeps on growing.

The 2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the biggest yet staged, with 3,548 shows, up from 3,398 last year, and 56,796 performances planned, up from 53,000 last year.

The 2018 Fringe will also feature 697 free shows, 260 "pay what you want" events, and in total nearly 2000 premieres.

This year will see a relaunch of the street events, which are sponsored by Virgin Money, on the High Street and Mound, marking 20 years since the Fringe Society took responsibility for the area.

It will also see the publication of a new Blueprint for the festival, planning its development until 2022, its 75th anniversary.

There will be on the Royal Mile, the festival said, be new stages, "spectacular entrance archways", new showcases and "hundreds of brightly coloured pigeons".

The Fringe, which in January lost its regular funding from Creative Scotland, has a theme this year of "leap into the unknown."

Shona McCarthy, Chief Executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: "This year’s programme contains an eclectic mix of creative endeavour from across the globe that will move, challenge and, of course, entertain.

"Last year we celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Fringe, but we also used it as a time to reflect, question, recalibrate and look to the future. "Alongside this year’s programme, the Fringe Society has produced a blueprint of ambitions that will guide our activities in the run up to our 75th anniversary in 2022, to ensure the continued success of this amazing festival for everyone involved.

"The Fringe Blueprint identifies new approaches to ensure anyone can participate, regardless of their background.

"From driving down the cost of attendance to engaging young people in the arts and reaching out to underrepresented groups in Edinburgh and further afield, we want the Fringe to be the greatest festival on earth at which to perform, run a venue, develop a career, see shows and discover talent."

Cllr Donald Wilson, Culture and Communities Convener, City of Edinburgh Council, said: "It is impossible to imagine Edinburgh without its festival offering each year; all the razzmatazz and colour on the Royal Mile and general buzz and excitement that the Fringe and other summer festivals bring to our city every summer.

"Building on the wonderful 70th anniversary celebrations last year, this year’s Fringe programme once again offers something for everyone, regardless of their age, taste or background, and I particularly welcome the Blueprint as a means of boosting participation, particularly amongst young people."

There are some new venues this year.

Fireside on East Market Street will host shows in their four arches for the first time, while close by Cranston Caravan Club offers a mix of performances and exhibitions in a repurposed 1960s caravan.

Theatre Bath Bus will park up on the Meadows with a programme of shows from Zenith Youth Theatre.

At the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh - Pyrus Lawn is home to Pianodrome, a venue made entirely from 55 recycled pianos that will host a programme of community-based events.

Sweet Venues will launch Sweet Novotel on Lauriston Place, while the French Institute presents its Vive le Fringe! programme in its new premises on West Parliament Square.

The Waverley Bar on St Mary’s Street will be a venue and BrewDog Lothian Rd will run PBH’s Free Fringe shows everyday in the former Clydesdale Bank building.

Leith Dockers Club is a Fringe venue for the first time.

Well known names with shows this year include Katherine Parkinson, Su Pollard, Jason Donovan, Esther Rantzen, Maureen Lipman, Julie Hesmondhalgh, former MP Gyles Brandreth, Rory Bremner and Jan Ravens, Reginald D. Hunter and Craig Hill, Janeane Garofalo, Judah Friedlander.

From the world of children’s entertainment, Once Seen on Blue Peter is a theatrical tribute to the world’s longest-running children’s TV show, starring former Blue Peter presenters Peter Purves, Janet Ellis, Peter Duncan, Mark Curry and Tim Vincent.

The writer and musician Darren McGarvey, also known as Loki, brings to life the themes of social mobility, class and identity explored in his recent book, in Loki, the Scottish Rapper: Poverty Safari Live.

Music at the Fringe includes Super Furry Animal’s frontman Gruff Rhys, country star Beth Nielsen Chapman, Pussy Riot, Kevin Rowland and many others.

Ed Miliband and Geoff Lloyd will record their podcast Ed Miliband and Geoff Lloyd: Reasons to Be Cheerful at the Fringe, discussing politics and ideas with each other and special guests.

In the programme, theatre is 27% of the shows, with comedy at 35%, and music at 14%.