iPlayer debut for Peter Kay's BBC sitcom

Peter Kay holds the world record for the biggest-selling stand-up tour

Comedian Peter Kay is to make his first BBC One sitcom, but the show, titled Car Share, will go out on TV only after making its debut on the BBC iPlayer.

Kay plays a supermarket worker forced to spend his commute with a colleague as part of a company car-share scheme.

The star has also directed the six half-hour episodes.

The series will be the first to be made available online on the iPlayer in its entirety before being broadcast on a BBC TV channel.

The iPlayer is mainly used as a catch-up service, but Car Share is part of a trial in which 40 hours of programming will be made available online first.

'Spiralling conversations'

BBC One controller Danny Cohen said: "It is hugely exciting that Peter Kay is coming to BBC One with his new series - even more so with the innovative plan we have to launch the show online."

Peter Kay is among the UK's most popular comedians and is best known on TV for Channel 4 shows like Phoenix Nights and Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere.

In 2010 and 2011, he broke the world record for the biggest-selling stand-up tour, which was seen by 1.1 million people over 113 arena nights. He is also the first comedian to sell 10 million DVDs in the UK.

He said: "To be finally working with the BBC on a new comedy is a great opportunity.

"And the idea of two people car sharing to work each day really appealed to me, as it highlights the comedy in the minutia of the daily trek and allows the spiralling conversations of life to unwind in all of their glory."