Friday Night Dinner creator Robert Popper has explained the decision to kill off Wilson at the end of the last series.

In the final episode of series five, titled 'Wilson', Jim's dog makes a nuisance of himself by defecating in Jackie's flowerbed before dying - and later being buried - in the front garden.

At the start of series six it was revealed that Jim has moved on and got himself an equally large dog, deciding to name him 'Milson'.

"I wanted to do something that gave everyone a shock," Popper told Jewish News. "And to write a sad episode. I also wanted to give Jim a new dog.

"I made sure it was funny, too, so had Jim casually saying, 'I'll get another dog next week.'"

The current series of Friday Night Dinner has been a ratings smash for Channel 4, more than doubling the audience for series five with an average of around 4.6 million viewers.