The BBC has confirmed that the two new episodes of Peter Kay's Car Share will be broadcast in 2018. 

This follows the shock news that Kay has cancelled all of his upcoming projects including his huge arena tour which was due to run until 2019.

A BBC spokeswoman said the episodes - an improvised episode and "a special finale" - have already been filmed.

Kay had previously said that there would be no more episodes, but he made the surprise announcement alongside co-star Sian Gibson live during BBC Children in Need.

Car Share viewers were left in dismay at the end of the second series when Kayleigh stepped out of John’s car and his life forever. Fans even set up an online petition demanding a conclusion to the series which gathered over 100,000 signatures.

Kay said: “We were completely overwhelmed by the response and even though we've no plans to write a third series we knew we couldn't end the story there.”

A special finale episode to be broadcast next year will reveal just what happens next to John and Kayleigh.

Before then, BBC One will broadcast a special episode called Car Share: Unscripted which will follow John and Kayleigh home on their daily commute only the entire episode will be completely improvised.

Kay said: "We were always very fond of ad libbing around the script when we were filming the series so we decided to see what would happen if we took the script away and just relied on just our chemistry alone, reacting to whatever came on the radio."

Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content said: "I know it will be music to the ears of millions of fans of Peter Kay's joyous award-winning comedy to hear that Kayleigh and John will be coming back for one last time with a very special finale episode in 2018."