A gay cartoon has been awarded best TV series in Italy ahead of its debut on UK TV.

Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World was honoured as best TV series by the annual Cartoons on the Bay Pulcinella Awards last weekend in Salerno, Italy.

The jury praised the show for "pushing social boundaries and tackling stereotypes in a wicked and irreverent way," according to Variety.

The six part animated series will premier in the UK E4 in the autumn.

Written and created by Advocate columnist Q Allan Brocka, the show includes a feuding gay and lesbian couple, a wheelchair-bound HIV positive character, and a host of other gay stereotypes  in the fictional "gay ghetto" of West Lahunga Beach.

Those voicing the characters include Alan Cumming, Peter Paige from US Queer As Folk,  Margaret Cho, Billy West and Wilson Cruz from Party of Five.

The show airs in the US on Logo, the LGBT focused channel and online entertainment.

A second series is set for broadcast in the US later this year.