The creators of The Inbetweeners are making a new BBC comedy about footballers.
Afternoons will be the first show created by the writing duo Iain Morris and Damon Beesley since the huge success of their coming-of-age sitcom and films.
Airing on BBC2, the six-part series will feature the “mostly off-the-pitch misadventures” of footballers at a fictional premier league club.
The comedy will focus on the friendship of three young football players who are “far less proficient with women, money and social media than they are at scoring goals”.
BBC comedy controller Shane Allen said: “Having Iain and Damon back together on a new scripted piece is about as good as it gets in comedy.
“Their take on what happens off the pitch brims with their skill at creating a gang of instantly recognisable characters, memorable dialogue, deftly tuned plots and excruciating humiliation is never far away.”
The Inbetweeners, about four hapless sixth-form pupils and their often cringeworthy capers, ran from 2008 to 2010 and was E4’s highest rating series.
The Bafta award-winning show starring Simon Bird, Joe Thomas, James Buckley and Blake Harrison spawned two spin-off films, The Inbetweeners Movie (2011) and The Inbetweeners 2 (2014).
Morris and Beesley said they were “delighted to be working together again” and thanked the BBC for the “faith they have shown in the idea”.
“We’re hoping to show viewers the hilarious inner lives of three young men who just happen to have a very stressful job in the public eye,” they said.
Casting for the show, given the working title Afternoons, has not yet been announced.
BBC Studios, which is developing the series, said the series “promises to be a global hit”.
Veteran US television comedy producer Tom Werner, whose credits include Roseanne and That ‘70s Show – and also chairman of Liverpool Football Club – is executive producing the comedy alongside Caroline Leddy, known for The Inbetweeners and Derry Girls.