Dennis the Menace is back – but in this new series he avoids being spanked and is sent on a confessional daytime television show instead.

The naughty schoolboy and his dog, Gnasher, will return to screens after a decade in the doghouse with a new CBBC cartoon. But there have been some changes to the character since he first appeared in the pages of the Beano back in 1951. Dennis has been given a modern-day makeover to reflect politically correct concerns.

He is no longer punished with a whack from his dad’s slipper. The new series, Dennis & Gnasher, will feature contemporary storylines.

In one episode, Dennis appears on a Jeremy Kyle-style daytime show with his despairing mum for an edition called Help, I Can’t Control My Son! He is then packed off to a “brat camp”, but it fails to cure his naughtiness. Benjamin Gray, the executive manager of Beano publisher D.C. Thomson, said: “The storylines are very much influenced by what is going on in the UK now, just as they always has been.

“Quite a lot has changed over the years. Children now grow up in a world of reality TV, downloads and iPods. We have to take account of that and reflect what kids get up to but things won’t change too much because that unique Dennis charm will still be there.

“Other things have changed since Dennis first appeared in the comic. We can’t slipper him any more, which his father is very unhappy about. What was socially acceptable then is not acceptable now.” But Mr Gray promised that the new-look Dennis will represent old-fashioned fun. He said: “One of our driving ambitions is to present children with a world where they aren’t so constrained by political correctness or health and safety, where they can enjoy the thrill of being naughty in their imagination through Dennis.”

Work on the new series has already begun and it will be broadcast in autumn 2009, aimed at children aged 5 to 10. The last series appeared on the CBBC in 1997 and its repeats have proved hugely popular for the channel. D.C. Thomson is now to send Dennis the Menace and Desperate Dan comic strips to children’s mobile phones.

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