Heartland

I want to move to the UK to work on my stand-up/acting/voice-acting, but London sucks the life out of me, so I was wondering if anyone has any tips where I could start out, get acclimatised, etc.? My research so far suggests Manchester, because apparently the BBC is doing a lot there and it's a university city with lots of projects, is that correct?
I'd actually been hoping to maybe go to Edinburgh or Glasgow, but they don't come up as much and only in relation to "commute to Manc and London regularly".

the bbc is in manchester, yes.
can't see what's wrong with edinburgh or glasgow, actually.
norwich is also a very arty place.

Is there a lot going on in Edinburgh in the months of Sept-July?
Norwich seems a bit small/off... (I actually went there to look at a school many years ago)

Birmingham maybe?

Well, Edinburgh does have that festival every year. It also has a Stand comedy club. They have an open mic night every week with a very receptive audience. Some big names (on the UK circuit anyway) often headline it to try out new material, so you'd get the chance to talk to them backstage. Some pubs etc have comedy nights too, so there are other opportunities. Edinburgh's a bit expensive to live in (compared to the rest of Scotland, that is - not compared to, say, London), so you might want to live outside of the city and commute in.

Glasgow has a Stand too, but I don't know what things are lime there.

Okay, thank you so far!