Frank Skinner’s sitcom Shane has been recommissioned by ITV1.

The comic will write and star in another six half-hour episodes next year.

More than five million people watched the first episode of the sitcom, in which he plays a wisecracking, misogynistic cab driver, but ratings settled down to around the four million mark.

ITV chiefs have also commissioned another run of his prime-time chat show, with another 12 episodes scheduled for this autumn.

The news comes as Skinner’s revives Fantasy Football with David Baddiel for this month’s Euro 2004 tournament.

His spokesman said: “He’s going to be very busy.”