| Extras | |
|---|---|
| Format | Situation comedy |
| Created by | Ricky Gervais Stephen Merchant |
| Written by | Ricky Gervais Stephen Merchant |
| Directed by | Ricky Gervais Stephen Merchant |
| Starring | Ricky Gervais Ashley Jensen Stephen Merchant Shaun Williamson Shaun Pye |
| Ending theme | "Tea for the Tillerman" by Cat Stevens and (special) Chris Martin |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 13 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Single camera |
| Running time | 30 mins (regular episodes) 90 mins (special) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC Two (UK) (series 1–2) BBC One (UK) (special) HBO (US) |
| Picture format | 576i (PAL) (series 1–2) 1080i (HDTV) (special) |
| Original run | 21 July 2005 – 27 December 2007 |
Extras is a British sitcom about extras working on TV and film sets and in theatre. The series was co-produced by the BBC and HBO, and is created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, both of whom also star in it. Extras charts the lives of Andy Millman, his friend Maggie Jacobs and Andy's substandard agent and part-time retail employee Darren Lamb, as Millman rises to fame.
Extras has two series of six episodes each as well as a Christmas Special. The first episode aired in the UK on 21 July 2005 on BBC Two and on 25 September 2005 on HBO in the US. The second series premiered in the UK on BBC Two on 14 September 2006 and began airing in the US on HBO and in Australia on ABC on 14 February 2007.[1] The Christmas Special aired on 27 December 2007 on BBC One and on 16 December 2007 on HBO. Both series are available on DVD in the UK and the US.
The series is filmed in a more traditional sitcom style than the mockumentary style used by Gervais and Merchant in their previous series The Office. Each episode has at least one guest star; a television or film celebrity, who play what Gervais and Merchant have referred to as "twisted" versions of themselves;[2] an exaggerated or inverted parody of their famous public personas.
The show has been critically acclaimed, and has a Metacritic score of 81/100.
Contents |
| # | Episode | Celebrity guest star(s) | UK viewers[3] | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Ben Stiller" | Ben Stiller | 4.83 million | 21 July 2005 |
| Andy and Maggie are playing extras in the film Ben Stiller is directing, which is based on the life of Goran, an Eastern European man whose wife and son were killed in the Yugoslav Wars. Andy attempts to get a speaking part by befriending Goran, who eventually gets Andy a spoken line. However, Andy gets in an argument with Stiller just before shooting his scene and is kicked off the set. Maggie, meanwhile, takes an interest in one of the crew but it goes wrong after Andy points out that her would-be beau has one leg shorter than the other, which Maggie is unable to stop herself making an issue of. | ||||
| 2 | "Ross Kemp and Vinnie Jones" | Ross Kemp and Vinnie Jones | 3.62 million | 28 July 2005 |
| Andy is working on a television period drama starring Ross Kemp. Andy's rival, Greg, is working on a film with Kemp's rival, footballer Vinnie Jones, in the adjacent studio building. Kemp claims he has had SAS training and tells Andy that he is more of a "hard man" than Jones. Millman then relays this information to Greg, who himself tells Jones. Angered by this, Jones later confronts Kemp, who denies having said anything, and cowers at Jones's threats. After this embarrassment, Kemp admits to a disillusioned Andy that none of his prior claims were true and that wherever he works, he's bullied, contradicting his reputation as a hard man. | ||||
| 3 | "Kate Winslet" | Kate Winslet | 3.59 million | 4 August 2005 |
| Working as extras on the set of a Holocaust film, Andy and Maggie befriend the star, Kate Winslet, who hopes to finally win an Oscar with her role as a nun sheltering Jews during the Holocaust (coincidentally, she later won an Oscar for her role in the 2008 Holocaust film The Reader). Maggie is in a relationship with a set assistant who wants her to talk dirty with him over the phone, but Maggie has no idea what to say. Winslet helpfully volunteers explicit advice for Maggie on the subject, but Maggie's boyfriend later dumps her when he catches Andy and Winslet making lewd gestures to each other behind his back. Meanwhile, atheist Andy takes a liking to a fellow extra who is a Catholic, so he claims to be Catholic as well in order to get closer to her. However a "get together" with her and "some friends" turns out to be Bible study group and Andy's deceit is exposed, despite Andy's bravest efforts to conceal the truth. | ||||
| 4 | "Les Dennis" | Les Dennis | 3.93 million | 11 August 2005 |
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Andy's agent secures him the role of the (very camp) Genie in a pantomime version of Aladdin starring Les Dennis. Dennis is engaged to the much younger Simone Reynolds (Nicky Ladanowski) but is also on the verge of a breakdown due to the many setbacks in his career. When Andy discovers Les' fiancée cheating with a stagehand, he becomes very protective of Les and at first tries to keep him from finding out. But when Les decides maybe it would be best if he splits up with Simone, Andy reveals the truth about her. Devastated, Les stops in the middle of the first performance of the pantomime to berate the futility of his life and the lack of enthusiasm from the crowd. Maggie comes to visit Andy during rehearsal and bumps into an old friend, Lizzie Bunton (Rebecca Gethings), who is dancing in the chorus line. Lizzie then recalls how they first met working together on the BBC children's drama "The Orphans of Penny Farthing Lane". Her closeted gay father, "Bunny" (Gerard Kelly), the play's director, is very controlling of Lizzie's life and treats her like a child. Maggie is invited to Lizzie's birthday party, which she reluctantly agrees to attend. She finds out on arrival she is 30 years younger than all the other guests. Bunny admonishes his daughter, Lizzie, for messing up a rendition of "Making Your Mind Up" by Bucks Fizz during the party. Lizzie then tells Bunny she's not happy pursuing a showbiz career. Maggie is soon asked to leave the party after encouraging her friend to find her own way in life. |
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| 5 | "Samuel L. Jackson" | Samuel L. Jackson | 3.58 million | 18 August 2005 |
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Samuel L. Jackson is starring as a maverick American cop in a UK police thriller and a fellow extra (Steve Speirs) forfeits the opportunity to do a scene with Jackson for Andy's benefit. When the fellow extra uses the favour as an excuse to befriend Andy, Andy resorts to lies and pathetic excuses to shake him off. The man's insistence eventually causes Andy to cave in and have dinner with his colleague, though Andy feels obliged to assure the other restaurant patrons that he and his dinner companion are not a couple. But the man's sad, depressing demeanor proves to be too much, and a frustrated Andy ends up plunging his face into his soup after being invited to the Ben Elton musical "We Will Rock You" before abruptly leaving. Maggie is attracted to a young mixed race actor. Despite some initial misunderstandings due to her over-sensitivity about race, she successfully asks him out on a date, but further misunderstandings end the date early. When she chats with Jackson on set the day after, she confuses him with Laurence Fishburne. Andy tries to save the ailing conversation but only succeeds in making things significantly worse, resulting in Andy forfeiting the line he had earlier managed to get with Jackson. |
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| 6 | "Patrick Stewart" | Patrick Stewart | 3.86 million | 25 August 2005 |
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Andy and Maggie are working on a production of Shakespeare's The Tempest alongside Patrick Stewart. Eager to get his sitcom script noticed, Andy gives a copy to Stewart, who in turn tells Andy about his own script: a lewd film in which he will star as a man who can undress women with his mind. Stewart agrees to circulate Andy's script, and the BBC invite Andy for a meeting. Andy is asked to rewrite his script with staff writer/producer Damon Beesley (Martin Savage) with a view to a pilot episode being filmed. But when Andy complains to Maggie about how annoyingly camp Damon can be, and she later repeats Andy's apparently homophobic remarks to Damon, the BBC threaten to pull the plug on Andy's show. After Andy apologizes to Damon, Damon forgives him and work on the pilot resumes. The conflict in the second series of the BBC meddling with Andy's sitcom is hinted at when Damon insists that Andy's old boss' saying "Are you 'avin' a laugh?" should become a catchphrase for the show. |
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When the first series was first broadcast in the UK, the episode featuring Ben Stiller was broadcast first, followed by the Ross Kemp and Vinnie Jones episode the following week. When the series was repeated over the Christmas holiday 2005, the episodes were returned to their intended order, with Ross Kemp first, followed by Stiller. The first series DVD, released in the UK on 31 October 2005, also preserves this same order, along with the Extras script book.
When the first series is shown in North America another order is used:[4]
This episode order was maintained for the North American DVD release, issued on 9 January 2007.
| # | Episode | Celebrity guest star(s) | UK viewers[3] | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | "Orlando Bloom" | Orlando Bloom with Keith Chegwin, Liza Tarbuck and Sophia Myles |
3.62 million | 14 September 2006 |
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Andy's new sitcom, When The Whistle Blows, is being filmed, whilst Maggie appears as an extra in a courtroom drama with Orlando Bloom and Sophia Myles. The audience find the heavily-rewritten sitcom funny but Andy, forced to wear glasses and a wig, feels like he has sold out, particularly when dim-witted and un-PC Keith Chegwin is cast in a cameo role. The character Alfie (renamed Keith by Andy when Chegwin proves unable to respond to being addressed by any name other than his own) is cast as was meant to be played by Keith Harris, but Harris declined the role of Alfie, stating "Ricky Gervais wanted me to be a racist bigot". Meanwhile, Orlando Bloom refuses to believe that Maggie does not find him attractive and waxes lyrical about his dislike for Johnny Depp. |
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| 8 | "David Bowie" | David Bowie | 3.84 million | 21 September 2006 |
| The critical response for When the Whistle Blows is entirely negative but Andy gets encouragement from the public as he is recognised in the street and in his local pub - though he isn't eager to endlessly repeat his catchphrase from the show. Shaun Williamson takes Andy to a celebrity bar he used to frequent, where Andy is all too briefly treated as a VIP. While there, Andy tries to talk with David Bowie, who proceeds to make up a song ridiculing him, so Andy goes back to his local to seek recognition from the people he had previously disdained. | ||||
| 9 | "Daniel Radcliffe" | Daniel Radcliffe with Warwick Davis, Diana Rigg, Phillip Schofield, Fern Britton, Nick Ferrari, Matthew Wright, Lowri Turner and Richard & Judy |
3.46 million | 28 September 2006 |
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Andy receives a bit part in a new fantasy film starring Daniel Radcliffe, who fancies himself a teenage Lothario and tries to seduce every woman he meets - including Maggie, and blaming it on someone else every time he gets caught. Over lunch, Daniel invites himself to join Andy and Maggie and accidentally flicks a condom onto the head of Dame Diana Rigg. Andy takes Maggie out for a meal and inadvertently offends the mother of a Down's syndrome teenager in a restaurant, leading to an increasingly hysterical reaction in the British media, who take his comments out of context. Andy manages to quell the anger, but back on the film set, he gets into a fight with actor Warwick Davis over remarks Andy privately made to Maggie - which she later repeats to Davis' fiancée. During the altercation, Andy accidentally knocks Davis unconscious, leading to the loss of his bit part and further embarrassment from the tabloids. |
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| 10 | "Chris Martin" | Chris Martin with Ronnie Corbett, Richard Briers, Moira Stuart, Davina McCall, Patricia Potter and Stephen Fry |
3.6 million | 5 October 2006 |
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Andy makes a charity appeal video and meets Chris Martin from Coldplay, who appears as a shameless self-promoter interested only in advertising his album. Martin requests to make a cameo on When the Whistle Blows and appears on the show to play "Fix You." Despite angry reviews at the shameless celebrity appearance on his sitcom, Andy is nominated for a BAFTA. During the award ceremony, Andy manages to upset both Richard Briers and an ex-girlfriend, who goes on to humiliate him from the stage. Co-nominee Stephen Fry wins the award in Andy's category and privately rebukes Andy for his sitcom's use of laughter tracks, silly wigs and catchphrases. Andy, Darren Lamb and Ronnie Corbett are banned from future BAFTAs after they are caught with Darren and Ronnie's drugs. |
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| 11 | "Sir Ian McKellen" | Sir Ian McKellen with Germaine Greer, Mark Kermode and Mark Lawson |
3.66 million | 12 October 2006 |
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With the critical reaction to his sitcom getting more scathing, Andy is desperate for any role to show his credibility. He is recommended to Ian McKellen, and is cast in a play about a homosexual relationship - "A Month of Summers". With his upper school school friends turning up for the first night, and McKellen's sudden decision that he should kiss his male co-star, Andy feels increasingly uncomfortable to the point of leaving the play midway through the first performance. Darren asks Maggie on a date, which comes to an awkward conclusion. |
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| 12 | "Robert De Niro" | Robert De Niro with Jonathan Ross and Robert Lindsay |
3.85 million | 19 October 2006 |
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Convinced that he has outgrown his sitcom and his agent, Andy becomes detached from his friends after appearing on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and becoming friends with Ross. Despite making excuses, Andy is coerced into visiting a boy (Corey J. Smith) who is in hospital with cancer and asks Maggie to go with him. Robert Lindsay, who appeared on the Ross show with Andy, is incensed that he, the more famous and talented actor (according to him), was not asked to visit the ailing child and gate-crashes the scheduled visit. Lindsay becomes livid when the sick child shows no recognition of Lindsay's earlier work, especially his appearances as Wolfie on 70s sitcom Citizen Smith. Andy is determined to fire Darren Lamb for incompetence, until Darren tells Andy he has arranged a meeting with his idol Robert De Niro. The meeting time conflicts with one of Andy's scheduled visits to the sick boy, but guilt at the burden he is imposing on Maggie combined with his suspicion of Darren's empty promises forces Andy to keep his appointment with the boy at the cost of meeting De Niro. Lamb is able to pacify De Niro with a pornographic biro, and at the hospital, Andy receives a call from Lamb and De Niro, who invite Andy to meet up at a pub, which he and Maggie accept. |
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| # | Episode | Celebrity guest star(s) | UK viewers[3] | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | "Christmas special" | Lionel Blair, Dean Gaffney, Ben Willbond, Toby Foster, Hale & Pace, George Michael, Clive Owen, Gordon Ramsay, Lisa Scott-Lee, Chico Slimani, June Sarpong, Vernon Kay, Karl Pilkington and David Tennant | 5.63 million | 16 December 2007 (US) 27 December 2007 (UK) |
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After three series of When the Whistle Blows, Andy is more famous than ever. He can get a table at the exclusive Ivy Restaurant without booking, and he's moved to a posh new flat on Hampstead Heath as well. But it's arch-nemesis Greg who's got the career — and agent — Andy wants. With a new blockbuster film opening to rave reviews, Greg's portrayal of Percy Shelley alongside Clive Owen's Byron has earned him a firm place on the A-list. Fortunately, Greg's agent offers to represent Andy as well, which means Andy can finally hand Darren Lamb his walking papers - or at least leave a message to that effect. With a proper agent on board, Andy abruptly quits his sitcom in order to free himself up for better offers. Andy is so caught up with new agent Tre Cooper's plan to get Andy "to the top of the B-list" as soon as possible that he completely fails to notice things aren't going nearly as well for Maggie. Though Tre secures her a small part in Clive Owen's new film, she decides to call it quits on being an extra after Owen and the director come up with a bit of staging that involves Owen flinging manure in Maggie's face. With no experience in any other line of work, Maggie has to resort to being a cleaner to pay the rent, which she can no longer afford and so is forced to move from her flat to a dingy little bedsit. Since Andy now phones only when he needs her to help him with some scheme or other, Maggie is left entirely to her own devices. Nearly destitute and thoroughly despondent, she pops in at Darren's new (and former) employer, the Carphone Warehouse, to see if he can offer her a place alongside former EastEnders co-stars Shaun Williamson and Dean Gaffney, who have also resorted to working there. Meanwhile, Andy's decision to walk away from his sitcom has backfired. New agent Tre won't return his calls, so Andy is forced to accept acting gigs that he sneered at only a few months ago (specifically, roles on Doctor Who and Hotel Babylon) just to keep himself in the public eye. Andy finally manages to track down his agent, who tells Andy that he can have either "fame and fortune" or "credibility and respect" — but not both together — Andy chooses fame and fortune and begs Tre to pull whatever strings necessary to get Andy back on telly. Andy finds that the strings Tre has offered to pull land him in the latest cast of Celebrity Big Brother, but Andy has no idea who anybody else is (apart from Lionel Blair, the other house members include a woman who leaked a sex tape of herself on the internet, and a mother whose son was murdered). He quickly realises that rather than bolster his career, what he's actually done by appearing on a show where everyone is so desperate for fame that they voluntarily "hand in their dignity at the door" is just the opposite. After making an impassioned speech to this effect on camera, at the same time using the opportunity to make a heartfelt and tearful apology to Maggie, who is watching at home, Andy walks off the show. Ironically, Andy's Big Brother speech gives him exactly the kind of attention and respect he's always wanted. Though he finds himself suddenly a media darling, with his agent fielding calls from the likes of Elton John and the Beckhams, Andy decides that the only place he really wants to be is anywhere Maggie wants to go. Happily reunited, the two drive off down the motorway towards Heathrow Airport. |
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On 23 October 2008, Ricky Gervais stated the following on his blog:
"Steve must have seen the thing in the press about me thinking about doing another Extras Special. He's in LA at the moment but the story that went out across America was that, although I would consider it, I thought Steve would take some convincing. Well I got an email today from him saying he's up for it. I started work on it immediately. Does anyone know Al Pacino?"
On 3 January 2009, Ricky Gervais stated:
"People have been talking about a special - as much as we would like for there to be one, it's most likely there's no chance whatsoever."
Gervais further confirmed that there will not be any more episodes of Extras, saying "It's simply that Extras is no more."[5]
There were some subtle changes between the UK and US versions, with references to the names of British celebrities often being changed to American celebrities for the US edition. A scene featuring UK TV presenter Moira Stuart in episode 2.4 was completely excised from the US version, replaced instead with a song by Chris Martin - a scene that was featured as a deleted scene on the DVD releases.
Changes in the Christmas special saw the talking 'Jade Goody' doll replaced by a talking 'Kramer' doll. (Both dolls parodied incidents where each celebrity said things publicly that were generally seen as racist.) Furthermore, the t-shirt in the studio audience depicting Victoria Wood and Asda is replaced in the US version by a t-shirt depicting Sigourney Weaver and DirectTV. A scene with George Michael was also truncated to remove references to UK celebrities Richard and Judy and Catherine Tate. A scene set in the Carphone Warehouse was also edited to remove jokes referring to the long running BBC soap opera EastEnders.
In Season 2, Episode 1, Keith Chegwin's anti-gay tirade includes the sentence "Men have knobs, women have fannies. Pop knob in fanny. Not up the arse." In British English "fanny" is a euphemism for vagina. In American English, however, "fanny" is a term for buttocks. A scene was shot, and aired in the U.S., in which Chegwin says "Men have dicks. Women have vaginas. Pop dick in vagina. Not up the bum."
When the Whistle Blows is the show-within-a-show sitcom created, co-written by and starring Andy Millman. It was first mentioned in episode 1.3, as a script that Millman had written and given to his agent who neglected to read it. The script was turned into a sitcom on BBC One in the first series finale, after Millman gave the script to Patrick Stewart. Excerpts from the sitcom are featured in the second series, and many of the Extras plotlines have revolved around Millman's experiences with the show.
When the Whistle Blows is set in a Wigan factory canteen. The humour is broad and lowbrow in the manner of many catchphrase-based sitcoms. The main catchphrase of the show, "Are you 'avin' a laugh?," is spoken by Millman. The show is unpopular with reviewers but popular with the public. It does receive a BAFTA nomination, although Millman suspects it is there simply to make up the numbers, and in the end it loses heavily to an unspecified programme by Stephen Fry.
Millman is deeply unhappy with the show, feeling that too many people have interfered with his original ideas in the hunt for ratings. It appears that Millman originally set out to do a comedy similar to The Office, with true-to-life characters in a realistic work environment, without a studio audience or laughter track. The show has turned out to be the opposite of what he originally intended. The show is further debased by the unexplained guest appearance by Chris Martin of Coldplay, in episode 2.4, which bears no relation to the plot.
The presence of studio audiences/canned laughter, and the reliance on funny wigs, costumes and catchphrases for humour is a comment on recent comedy hits such as Little Britain.[6] Many people that Millman sees at the recording of the pilot wear T-shirts displaying recent comedy catchphrases, such as "Wassup", "It's Chico Time", "I'm a lady!", "Am I bovvered?" and "Garlic bread?." (These shirts are not shown in the US version of Extras.) Some of the reviews that the show gets refer to it as a "time warp comedy", and Millman's character talks about 1970s catchphrases such as Mr Humphreys' "I'm Free" (from Are You Being Served?) and Frank Spencer's "Ooh Betty" (from Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em), suggest that it is also partly sending up 1970s British comedy. In episode 2.5, Germaine Greer suggests that When the Whistle Blows is "sub Carry On".
The closing title track is called "Tea for the Tillerman", which is written and performed by Cat Stevens and is the title track of his album Tea for the Tillerman. The fourth episode of the second series of the show features a cover of the song performed by Chris Martin of Coldplay.
The song in the Christmas Special highlighting Maggie's depression after she hits bottom and quits acting is "This Woman's Work" by Kate Bush.[7] When Andy is having a bad time at the Ivy restaurant and leaves Maggie on her own, the Smiths song "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" can be heard.
According to a segment in the extras section of the Series 1 DVD, Jude Law was scheduled to appear in one of the episodes, after meeting Gervais backstage on the Late Show with David Letterman, but had to pull out due to film commitments. This resulted in Gervais and Merchant having to scramble to find a replacement actor at the last minute, with Leonardo DiCaprio being considered. A featurette on the first series DVD release, "Finding Leo", consists of late-night video camera footage (shot mostly by Merchant) chronicling Gervais' fruitless and ultimately unsuccessful attempts to contact DiCaprio's manager. Law was ultimately replaced by Patrick Stewart in the series 1 finale, although a poster for the Jude Law film Alfie appeared at the end. Other actors that did not appear in Extras despite initial reports from Gervais include Madonna, Brad Pitt,[8] and Tom Cruise.[9]
| Award | Category |
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| Rose d'Or |
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| Emmy Awards |
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| Golden Globe | |
| BAFTA Awards |
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| British Comedy Award |
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| BANFF World Television Awards |
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Overall, Extras has been received very well by critics in the UK. The show received 3 BAFTA Award nominations in 2006 including Best Comedy Performance for Ashley Jensen, Best Writer for Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, and Best Situation Comedy. In 2007, both Gervais and Merchant were nominated, separately, for Best Comedy Performance, with Gervais ultimately winning the award.
The show has also received high accolades in the US. In 2006, the show received four nominations for the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. Ben Stiller and Patrick Stewart received nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series and both lost to Leslie Jordan on Will & Grace. Kate Winslet received a nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series and lost to Cloris Leachman for Malcolm in the Middle. Gervais and Merchant were also nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for the episode with Kate Winslet. They lost to Greg Garcia for writing the pilot episode of My Name Is Earl. In 2007, the show received four nominations for the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards. Gervais was nominated for and won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, and Ian McKellen was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. Gervais and Merchant were also nominated for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for "Daniel Radcliffe" and Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series for "Orlando Bloom". Extras made the Top 10 list of Outstanding Comedy Series, but was not nominated in the Top 5.
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