NBC has stepped in to save Brooklyn Nine-Nine after an outcry on social media over Fox’s decision to scrap the US police sitcom.

The series, starring comedians Chelsea Peretti and Andy Samberg, has gained a cult following for its diverse cast and the way it addresses issues of discrimination in the New York Police Department.

When it emerged that Fox would not be renewing the series, fans pleaded with other networks to pick up the show.

Using the SaveB99 hashtag, they posted gifs and clips from the show on Twitter and Instagram and started a petition calling for the series to continue.

The cause was also picked up by high-profile fans including the Mexican director Guillermo del Toro, who tweeted: Brooklyn Nine-Nine has given us fully human characters, beautiful, powerful, flawed, vulnerable, majestic... In whichever form, B99 must return. It will. And I will be there to watch. And, it is my hope that I hope that, this time, a lot more people do too.

The show’s co-creator, Dan Goor, revealed on Saturday that NBC had saved the show: 

Hey everyone, just wanted to say no big deal but....
NBC JUST PICKED #BROOKLYN99 UP FOR SEASON 6!!!
Thanks in no small part to you, the best fans in the history of the world!

Nine-nine!!!!!!!!!

Goor also produced the critically acclaimed sitcom Parks and Recreation for NBC. Terry Crews, who plays Sgt Terry Jeffords in the fictional precinct, tweeted:

WE ARE BACK! @NBC PICKED US UP FOR A 6TH SEASON!!!