Inspired by his Little Crackers 2010 short Capturing Santa, Moone Boy is a semi-autobiographical sitcom written by and co-starring The IT Crowd's Chris O'Dowd about a boy growing up in Ireland in the 1980s.

O'Dowd plays Sean, the imaginary friend of 11-year-old Martin Moone, the youngest child of a family living in a small town in Ireland.

Martin has a unique perspective on life aided by an imaginary friend. His imagination comes into play both in his childish drawings, which come alive through animation, and in the ridiculous schemes he comes up with, against Sean's better judgement. With Sean's help, Martin negotiates life as the youngest in a chaotic, scatter-brained family.

Chris O'Dowd said: "Moone Boy is a fantastic comedy which centres on a ten year old boy who has an imaginary friend. It is set in the late eighties/early nineties and all of the experiences are ones that I had. It's a really funny show which has loads of animation and a number of laughs that I hope people will love. It was essential to film in Ireland and what was great about Sky was they wanted us to film here and they were really supportive. That wouldn't have happened at any other channel."

Lucy Lumsden, Head of Comedy, Sky commented: "We were delighted when Chris O'Dowd decided to expand his Little Cracker into a full series. With Nick Murphy, he's written six brilliantly funny scripts, Sky customers are in for a treat."

The series will be a co-production between Sprout Pictures, who produced the original Little Crackers short, Baby Cow Productions, Hod Cod Productions and Grand Pictures.