Melissa McCarthy and her husband Ben Falcone are to star in a new comedy series

According to Deadline, the show has already been given a 16-episode order.

A synopsis for the programme explained: "'God’s Favorite Idiot' follows Clark Thompson (Falcone), a midlevel tech-support employee who finds love with co-worker Amily Luck (McCarthy) at exactly the same time he becomes the unwitting messenger of God.

"Also, there’s rollerskating, a lake of fire and an impending apocalypse.”

The series marks the couple's sixth project together, having previously worked on 'Nobodies', 'Bridesmaids', 'Tammy', 'The Boss', and 'Life of the Party'.

Melissa - who has Vivian, 13, and Georgette, 10, with her spouse - previously admitted she worries about how "dark" TV shows have got and she thinks it has a damaging impact on people if they are always watching "hate and anger and despair".

She previously said: "There's so much good stuff, good shows, quality shows, but it keeps getting darker and darker and darker. No one cares about anyone. The end is coming -- why bother? Everybody hates everybody. People are, like, innately evil. I can only take in so much of that. Even if I know this is good, I enjoy it, I can't only take that in, it starts to affect me. And I think it affects everybody if they are just constantly consuming hate and anger and despair, and you don't talk to humans because you are always staring at your phone."

The 50-year-old star also worried that being online and using technology is ruining basic human interaction.

Discussing an evening in a restaurant, she recalled: "It was like being in the zoo. Everybody was taking selfies and not talking to who they were at the table with. It was completely jarring, and I just kept saying, 'It's the end of days.' "