Dave has commissioned a full series of hospital comedy Porters, following a three-part pilot series last year.

The show stars Ed Easton as a daydreaming wannabe doctor – but actual hospital porter – dealing  the eccentric staff and patients at St Etheldreda’s.

Six 40-minute episodes have been ordered to air later this year.

Porters co-stars Rutger Hauer, Susan Wokoma, Claudia Jessie, Jo Joyner  and Sanjeev Bhaskar, and is written by Dan Sefton, who is also a doctor

The pilot run, which attracted an average audience of  212,000 viewers, also included guest appearances from Mat Horne and Kelsey Grammer.

Pete Thornton, the commissioning editor for Dave’s parent company UKTV said: ‘It's really exciting to be able to confirm the return of Porters for a full series. 

‘The first three episodes set out the show's credentials as a highly original comic creation and we're very much looking forward to witnessing the cast's further adventures via the fertile imagination of one of the UK's most successful and prolific writers of recent years.’

Laurence Bowen, from producers Dancing Ledge Productions, said: ‘We're delighted that Porters is coming back for a second shift – Dan Sefton's gift for hilarious tales of medical mishap is second to none.’

Here is our review of the pilot.

Dave today also announced that its fantasy comedy Zapped was returning for a third series.