Three years after 'Derek', Ricky Gervais ready to work on a new sitcom

Comedian Ricky Gervais is developing a new sitcom and has already started writing for it.

The 55-year-old star, who has not appeared in a sitcom since the end of Derek in 2014, says he has "written five pages" of a new show about a man who is forced to move in with an "absolute loser relative", according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"I had five projects which I have narrowed down to one sitcom. I have written five pages. I shouldn't say but the idea is I get separated from my wife and I have to move in with an absolute loser relative.

"I have lost everything. I haven't got a house, I haven't got a job because she kept me and I was a bit of a kept man, and now I have to start dating again. It's horrendous. At 55, I've got to start from scratch, and all I want is her back. So it's about me trying to cope without this life-long partner and how the real world is harsh. It is going to be harsh," Gervais says.

The star, however, says the audience will have to wait for the sitcom as he is too "obsessed" with stand-up comedy to think about anything else right now.

"Honestly, I am obsessed with stand-up now. I was thinking I might go out straight after this tour and do another one."