ricky gervais, creator of 'the office' returns with a new series 'extras'

please stop compairing this show to the office!


after the massive success of the office, the pressure to come up with another hit comedy forced writing partners ricky gervais and stephen merchant to tap into their own lives and make fun of themselves.

extras follows the adventures of two actors andy millman and his best friend maggie jacobs (ricky and the hilarious ashley jenson). one is searching for a way to raise his performance level to bit player (in ep #1 he bribed an influential crew member to get a line with a 15 pound voucher... to top shop), as for maggie, she's just looking for... a shag, really.

throughout the six episode series, the two find themselves amoung actors who play horrible versions of themselves (so far, ben stiller has already made an appearance as an egomaniacal director trying to make his 'schindler's list'). also scheduled to appear are kate winslet and samuel l jackson.

the show is already on in the UK and US audiences will have to wait until the fall when it premieres on HBO.

to check out clips, go here