US cable network HBO has ordered a pilot based on the bittersweet BBC4 comedy Getting On, which will be overseen by the creators of drama series Big Love, Mark Olsen and Will Scheffer.

The show, which originated in the UK in 2009, was created by Jo Brand, Vicki Pepperdine and Joanna Scanlan, all of whom also starred in the programme as a trio of put-upon nurses working on a ward at an over-stretched NHS hospital.

Olsen and Schaffer were particularly keen to adapt Getting On as both writers felt personally affected by the issued raised in the series. Schaffer said: "When we proposed the reformat to BBC Worldwide and HBO, the issues in elder care were very, personal to both of us.

“Mark's and my mother were in their 90s and attending to their care had come to be a big part of our lives. Getting On nailed that world with its deadpan humour and deep humanity."

Brand, who won a Bafta for her performance in Getting On in 2011, will act as producer alongside Pepperdine and Scanlan on the US pilot, which as yet has no airdate.

In May, the BBC announced that Getting On is also set to return to BBC4 for a third series at some point in the future.