Bill Bailey's BBC sitcom about a middle-aged man reunited with his imaginary childhood friend has been given a series, British Comedy Guide can exclusively reveal.

A pilot episode of Hennikay aired on Radio 4 last year and the broadcaster has now ordered four more 30-minute episodes, with all five set to air from 15th November.

Bailey plays 45-year-old Guy Starling, who walks into his office at games developer Solutify Technology to close the biggest deal of his career, only to be confronted with an 11-year-old boy playing keepy-uppies, who no-one else can see or hear. Because that boy is Hennikay, Guy's imaginary friend from his lonely childhood.

In the series, Not Going Out's Max Pattison returns as Hennikay from the pilot, as does Elizabeth Carling (Goodnight Sweetheart) as the character Marika.

However, from the second episode onwards, Sanjeev Bhaskar has been replaced by Dave Lamb (Goodness Gracious Me) and Anna Leong Brophy by Hollie Edwin, whose credits include Death In Paradise and Bounty Hunters.

Hennikay is written by David Spicer, who wrote for Armstrong & Miller's sketch series and many Radio 4 shows, including several collaborations with Alistair McGowan and Dr Phil Hammond.

McGowan guest stars in Hennikay's second episode in which Solutify Technology embark upon a corporate team-building day paintballing in the woods and Guy finds his scheming, backstabbing co-workers desperate to ruin his career and steal his glory.

As the paint splatters, Guy realises that in the cut-throat world of business, the only person he can trust is an imaginary 11-year-old, running riot in in the woods with a paint gun.

Other guest stars in the series include Blackadder star Miranda Richardson playing Guy's mum and Toast Of London's Tracy-Ann Oberman, as Guy and Hennikay also play guitar together and visit a gaming expo.

"I loved working on Hennikay" Bailey said when the pilot was announced. "It was a brilliant, funny and touching piece of writing."

The series is produced by Liz Anstee for CPL Productions, who told BCG: "After the wonderful response to our one-off last year, I am thrilled that we've been able to make more episodes of Hennikay. Bill Bailey is a brilliant comedy actor, creating a wonderful rapport with Max Pattison and David Spicer's scripts are superb. It's been a joy to work with such amazing talent."

Hennikay's pilot episode is still available to listen to on BBC Sounds