ITV1 orders seven-part series

Frank Skinner is to star as a cab driver in a new sitcom for ITV1.

The network has commissioned seven episodes of Shane, in which he will star as a "wise cracking and politically unreconstructed minicab driver".

A pilot was made last month, as Chortle has previously reported,and it impressed ITV's Sioned Wiliam enough to land a series.

A spokesman for Avalon Television, which is making the show, said Skinner's character Shane "is swiftly becoming a disappointment to his wife, an embarrassment to his teenage kids, and a liability to his employers".

Avalon managing director Jon Thoday added: "It's good to see ITV continuing to back new comedy."

Skinner also wrote the show, which is his second scripted comedy since Channel 4's Blue Heaven in 1994.

Published: 26 Aug 2003