The IT Crowd's Katherine Parkinson is to star in a brand new ITV sitcom about a group of mature adult housemates who didn't intend to be where they have ended up.

A pilot episode for Semi Detached will be filmed in May, also starring Drop The Dead Donkey's Stephen Tompkinson and The Royle Family's Ralf Little.

Produced by Hat Trick, the format is intended for a prime-time slot in ITV's schedules if commissioned, complementing recent sitcom successes Vicious and Birds Of A Feather in the channel's move back to scripted comedy programmes.

Semi Detached follows Ellie (Katherine Parkinson) and the sitting tenants of a house she inherits: Steve (Ralf Little), Michael (Stephen Tompkinson), and Jim.

Single, divorced and separated, none of the four have the life they hoped for and so end up residing in the unofficial half-way house together, despite having absolutely nothing in common.

The single-camera pilot will also feature James Lance as Katherine's ex-boyfriend, and Ben Bailey Smith, aka stand-up rapper Doc Brown.

Written by Oriane Messina and Fay Rusling, whose credits include Green Wing and Campus on Channel 4, and BBC One's Me And Mrs Jones, Semi Detached will be produced by Rob Bullock and directed by Iain B MacDonald, who also heads up BBC Three hit Bluestone 42.

Ralf Little has recently been seen on screen in his own Sky1 sitcom, The Café, whilse Katherine Parkinson starred in the first episode of comedy anthology series Inside No. 9 earlier this year.

Stephen Tompkinson has recently been playing the title role in police drama DCI Banks, and Semi Detached will be his first starring comedy role since 2002's sci-fi sitcom Ted And Alice, in which he played an alien, Ted, looking for love on Earth. Dawn French co-starred.