A second series of Peter Kay’s Car Share will go ahead, The Knowledge has learned. The gentle comedy, mostly set inside a tiny Fiat, proved a massive ratings hit for BBC One when it aired in May.

Kay and Sian Gibson write and star in the show as supermarket manager John and his colleague Kayleigh thrown together in a company car share scheme. (Gibson’s name as a writer is Sian Foulkes; co-creators Tim Reid and Paul Coleman also pen the scripts).

The show is produced by Kay’s shingle, Good Night Vienna.

Consolidated figures showed that 6.85 million people watched the opening episode of the first series, more than any other sitcom premiere on any channel.

Another 2.5 million watched on iPlayer when it premiered the previous month and went on to became the most watched series to be released as a box set.

The huge combined viewing figures may prompt programmers to launch more comedies online before traditional TV broadcast.

We will be following the second series on PI, our online database with over 6,600 productions now listed. If you’re a subscriber, you can follow Care Share 2 from 9 October; non-subscribers can click here to request a free demo.