Experts
Ricky Gervais
Actor, Comedian
Good Word
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Sir John Betjeman
"Sir John Betjeman published his poem about Slough in 1937. I read it when I was about 14, a few miles down the road from Slough in Reading. It had a profound effect on me, and years later I tried to capture some of the mood and sentiment of it in The Office."
Recent Activity
CEMETERY JUNCTION starts filming in London
London, 16th June 2009 - Filming starts in London today Tuesday 16th June on CEMETERY JUNCTION, the first movie written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the multi-award winning team behind The Office and Extras. RALPH FIENNES (The Reader, Schindler's List), RICKY GERVAIS (The Invention of Lying, Ghost Town), EMILY WATSON (Synecdoche, New York, Breaking the Waves) and MATTHEW GOODE (Watchmen, Brideshead Revisited) feature alongside stars-of-the-future CHRISTIAN COOKE, FELICITY JONES, TOM HUGHES and JACK DOOLAN. CEMETERY JUNCTION tells the funny, touching and universal story of being trapped in a small town and dreaming of escape. In 1970s England, three blue-collar friends spend their days joking, drinking, fighting and chasing girls. Freddie (Christian Cooke) wants to leave their working-class world but cool, charismatic Bruce (Tom Hughes) and lovable loser Snork (Jack Doolan) are happy with life the way it is. When Freddie gets a new job as a door-to-door salesman and bumps into his old school sweetheart Julie (Felicity Jones), the gang are forced to make choices that will change their lives for ever. Ricky and Stephen Merchant say, "CEMETERY JUNCTION is going to be glossy and glorious, full of humour, romance and drama, as well as our usual observations on the truth and absurdity of real life." Follow Ricky's blog on rickygervais.com as the film progresses through production. CEMETERY JUNCTION will be in cinemas in 2010.
June 17, 2009, 5:31 PM
Ricky Gervais - The Vital Statistics
The Ricky Gervais Show was downloaded 4,609,112 times in May. The Ricky Gervais Guide to The English sold 200, 804 copies, the highest for a guide in one month. ('Medicine' has sold more but has been out longer obviously.) And rickygervais.com was visited by 856,099 unique users.
June 2, 2009, 4:39 AM
The Ricky Gervais Show gets animated
The record breaking podcasts that have spawned three years of unbroken iTunes chart-topping progeny are soon to grace TV screens in the form of an animated series on HBO that should be ready for broadcast before the end of this year. The Ricky Gervais Show features Ricky Gervais, obviously, with Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington. The latter having achieved cult status amongst listeners for his unique view of the world. As Ricky puts it, "Karl is a village idiot of global proportions." More about this at Variety or at Ricky's website; www.rickygervais.com
May 20, 2009, 7:50 PM
Ricky Gervais "Science" UK Live Stand-up Dates Announced
Ricky Gervais has announced dates in selected cities for his 2009 mini tour of the UK. Tickets for the live stand-up shows, titled "Science", go on sale at 10am Friday 15 May and full listings are available at Ricky's official website - rickygervais.com Ricky will play Glasgow, Portsmouth, Oxford, Newcastle, Ipswich, Manchester, Bournemouth, Birmingham, Sheffield, Blackpool and Brighton between August and the end of the year.
May 9, 2009, 4:50 PM
The Office licensed for Israeli remake
The Office is to be remade for an Israeli audience in what will be the seventh foreign version of the show.BBC Worldwide has licensed the show to an Israeli company, July August Productions, which will make 15 episodes to air on satellite channel Yes from April 2010.Ricky Gervais said: 'I am thrilled and amazed that Israel are making The Office with local writers, directors and actors. I mean, whoever heard of Jewish entertainers?'Giyora Yahalom, head of production at Yes, added: 'We are sure that the universal experience of contemporary office life will speak to Israeli viewers. There is no doubt that our viewers will enjoy the same jokes as their contemporaries in the UK.'Local versions of The Office have also been made for the US - where the show has run to six successful series - Chile, Canada, French Canada,France, Germany and Russia. The BBC original has also run in 90 countries.BBC Worldwide's Claudia Danser said there had been a lot of interest from Eastern Europe about another potential remake.It was also announced today that deals have been struck to syndicate the US version of The Office to cable TV stations covering 93 per cent of the country.These contracts, plus a deal with the cable channel TBS two years ago, means producers NBC Universal now take in about $3 million an episode for 'off-network' repeats.
March 30, 2009, 9:06 PM
Ricky Gervais is an English comedian, author, actor, director, producer, screenwriter and former pop musician. He achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and collaborator, Stephen Merchant. Besides writing and directing the shows, Gervais also played the lead roles of David Brent in The Office and Andy Millman in Extras. Gervais has also appeared in several Hollywood films, including For Your Consideration, Stardust, Night at the Museum and Ghost Town.
