WRITERS & DIRECTORS: Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant
CAST: Ricky Gervais (Andy Millman), Ashley Jensen (Maggie), Stephen Merchant (Agent), Orlando Bloom (Himself), Keith Chegwin (Himself), Shaun Williamson (Himself) & Sophia Myles (Lawyer)
While Maggie attracts the attention of Orlando Bloom on the set of a courtroom drama, Andy's dreams of creating a hit BBC sitcom are slowly unravelling when compromises have to be made with the Head Of Comedy...Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant return with a second series of their hit comedy Extras, itself hot-on-the-heels of their global phenomenon The Office.
Events in the life of fortysomething "supporting actor" Andy (Gervais) have taken a surprising turn, with his sitcom script When The Whistle Blows currently being filmed at the BBC, with him in the lead role. Best friend Maggie (the superbly natural Ashley Jensen) is still eeking out a living as an extra, belittled by a friend who has become "proper" actor and spurning the advances of a preening Orlando Bloom...
Ah yes, Bloom. As usual, each episode features a big name guest star, in this instance the boyishly good-looking Orlando (star of Lord Of The Rings and Pirates Of The Caribbean). Bloom plays himself as a narcissistic celeb-mag reading egomaniac who detests Johnny Depp and finds pleasure in winning frivolous magazine polls. Bloom isn't known for comedy, but he handles the self-mocking material quite well and his nonplussed reactions whenever Maggie shoots down his ego are excellent.
Poignancy is never far away from an episode of Extras, as each character is stuck in a world hovering between stardom and insignificance. Gervais' Andy finds that his climb up the ladder of importance means sacrificing his artistic vision and compromising his writing.
There are some good moments throughout the episode, particularly with cult irritant Keith Chegwin struggling to perform a simple dramatic moment without grinning or standing in the right place. Gervais is a great performer of understated pathos, simmering anger, and crushing disappointment. As with The Office's David Brent, Andy Millman gives him the opportunity to play to his strengths. Andy is more "normal" than Brent, so the comic punch comes through watching a decent man struggle with the facile world around him, and sacrifice dignity and principles for the promise of success and fame.
Extras retains the natural style perfected last year. This is a show that lets scenes unfold slowly, clearly designed to mimic the mundanity of filmmaking. However, Extras is never boring... there is always a smart quip, or amusing subversion of recognised personalities (Keith Chegwin enquires if the BBC is still run by "Jews and queers"), while there is a smattering of laugh-out-loud gags. One highlight for me was when Andy is asked to name a single funny British black man... and a poster of Lenny Henry looms into view... but Andy continues to ruminate...
That said, there were some misjudged moments (Cheggers' homophobic outburst; childish, obvious and unfunny) and a creeping sense of apathy in the writing. Episode 1 was quite formulaic and didn't offer as many barbed jokes as you'd expect from a show created to puncture celebrity culture.
Stephen Merchant's Agent and Shaun Williamson's "Barrie from EastEnders" seemed shoehorned into the script more prominently, given their success as peripheral characters last year. Williamson in particular was a highlight last time, but here he was given too much limelight. Both characters work much better as near-cameos...
The more serious moments in Episode 1 worked better than the comedy, particularly when Andy is forced to play his sitcom character as a hideous blend of Brent and Coronation Street's Reg Holdsworth (complete with trite catchphrase "Are you 'avin' a laff?"), and exits the stage to contemplate his indignity behind the scenes...
It's human moments like this that sweep Extras up from the doldrums and give the show its added weight and significance. But there were serious problems in Episode 1 with believability: Keith Chegwin as a racist isn't a clever "twisting" of his perceived personality, it was just a flase slurr on his character I'm amazed he agreed to, while Bloom's infatuation with Maggie just didn't ring true.
However, while Episode 1 certainly stretches credibility (the lynchpin of the series, essentially), on the evidence of this opener I'm sure there will be plenty of laughs in this new series, and hopefully some better episodes overall. But, a small part of me already suspects Gervais and Merchant will be wise to end the show soon before it gets too stale...
