Ricky Gervais is to quit making podcasts ‘before everyone hates us’.

The 24 shows he made with Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington have been downloaded nearly eight million times. He currently holds all top ten positions on the British iTunes podcast chart, and tops the bestseller list in 13 other countries, including America, Canada and Australia.

But now the comic says: ‘It's getting ridiculous and somebody has to make it stop. That somebody will be me.

‘I'm not saying we'll never do any more, but I think we should knock it on the head for a while before every one hates us. We may already be too late.’

Gervais – who has been dubbed The Podfather for his unmatched success in the new media - started offering the show for free, via the Guardian website.

But for the second and third series, which has just ended, he charged 95p per show.

He said: ‘I was trying something out. I wanted to see if I could cut out the middle man and make podcasting a commercial concern. Karl never has to work again and I believe that maybe he won’t.’

Gervais recently also said he won’t be making any more episodes of Extras after the current second series.

His next project may be The Men From The Pru, a sitcom set in a Seventies seaside town ‘the sexual revolution forgot, a suburban conspiracy-theory drama described as ‘when a Neighbourhood Watch scheme grows out of hand’ or a mainstream romantic comedy movie.