BBC Pins Hopes On Extras For Audience Growth
Roly Keating, controller of BBC Two, has launched Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s much anticipated sitcom, Extras, lauding the new show as having “all the hallmarks of a great BBC Two comedy series” and underlining the station’s commitment to “pedigree comedy.”
The much-anticipated new series will feature in the broadcaster’s spring schedule, along with several other high-profile comedy shows, designed to tempt audiences back following a slip in audience share (see BBC Banks On Comedy For Spring Schedule).
BBC Two has seen its share dip by 2.85% year on year, with its total now resting at 9.53%. However, the broadcaster is keen to reverse the trend of viewer decline, with Keating pinning his hopes on the new show, stating: “In setting and style it’s a long way from The Office, but it’s been crafted with just as much wicked wit and attention to detail. Ricky and Stephen have created a subtle and brilliantly acted comedy about celebrity, ambition and friendship.”
The new series will air on BBC Two from 21 July at 9pm, with Gervais playing Andy Millman who, having given up his day job to be an actor, finds he just can’t land the big parts. The show also features guest appearances from genuine celebrities each week. In order of appearance, they are Ben Stiller; Ross Kemp; Kate Winslet; Les Dennis; Samuel L. Jackson and Patrick Stewart.
Commenting on Gervais as a working-partner, Ben Stiller said: “It was my first chance to work in the UK, and it was very damp. Ricky was really fun, but he kept laughing. Of course he only laughed during my close up, which I believe was his way of trying to sabotage my performance.”
Never one to relinquish the last word, Gervais added: “It was a joy seeing him work. I said to him, ‘You must be the second best comedy actor in the world’ and he thanked me for that.”
Stephen Merchant quipped: “Ben learnt a lot from Ricky actually and now he never films after 4.30 in the afternoon either.”
Also airing on 21 July is the second series of The Catherine Tate Show, while Stephen Fry returns to BBC2 later in the evening in Absolute Power, in which he plays a PR spin doctor.
Later in the year BBC Two will play host to Rob Brydon, who launches a new series about a hapless British astronomer seeking a glorious new life in the Australian Outback, Supernova, while Joanna Lumley stars in a dark new comedy about a successful couple in their sixties, Sensitive Skin.
BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk