Ricky Gervais cartoon to be screened on Channel 4

The threesome have been animated for the series

Ricky Gervais' US animation series, based on his podcasts, is to be screened in the UK on Channel 4.

The 13-part Ricky Gervais Show, which will air on US cable channel HBO in February, is expected to arrive on UK screens the following month.

Gervais, whose hit shows The Office and Extras were aired on the BBC, said C4 "made me an offer I couldn't refuse".

The radio show appeared in the Guinness Book of Records as the most downloaded podcast of 2007.

'Village idiot'

By September 2006, the series of programmes - which started life on London radio station Xfm in 2001 - were estimated to have been downloaded around eight million times.

The series, which has been animated for television, stars Gervais, his comedy partner Stephen Merchant and producer Karl Pilkington.

The hapless Pilkington is described by the comedian as "the star of the show".

"He is a global village idiot, but the funniest man alive," says Gervais. 'He thinks that a seal is a cross between a fish and a dog. Karl is a bottomless well of stupidity."

Gervais said the show differed from previous hits The Office and Extras, where he claimed he "stopped prematurely through fear of going stale and running out of ideas".

"I want this to run and run like The Simpsons."

"The world has a new Homer, but this one is real," adds Gervais, referring to co-star Pilkington.

"Who'd have thought three blokes chatting in a room would turn out to be so lucrative?" says the award-winner, who will host the Golden Globes next month.