According to the UK entertainment site Digital Spy, Ricky Gervais is talking about doing a spin-off of Extras, which he recently concluded with a holiday special. The spin-off would focus on Shaun Williamson's character Barry (referred to most of the time as "Barry from EastEnders") and co-creator Stephen Merchant's clueless agent Darren Lamb.Williamson confirmed to a British radio station that he is in talks with Gervais about the spin-off. "We talked half-jokingly about a show with the pair in a camper van, solving crimes," he told the station.
It seems like it might not be a bad idea, since Barry and Darren made for a pretty funny team. It almost seemed like the two of them were a couple, with Barry doing everything for Darren but kissing his shoes, and Darren pushing Barry for every project his other client, Andy Millman (Gervais) was working on. The new show would definitely have more of a light-comedy angle to it than Extras, but you know that Gervais and Merchant will have some biting jokes ready for whatever new show they come up with.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-04-2008 @ 12:00PM
Tele-Toby said...
Out of all the characters in 'Extras', the two I'd miss most were Maggie and "Barry". At least Ashley Jensen is on 'Ugly Betty', but it's still not exactly the same thing.
Shaun Williamson playing himself, but forever only known as his old character, really grew on me as a very funny character. But I think this falls into that category of wishful thinking on the part of an actor to get some buzz going for his character to be in a spin-off.
Phil Morris did the same thing re: Jackie Chiles when 'Seinfeld' went off the air and I'm sure there must be others...
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1-04-2008 @ 12:16PM
Derek said...
"Extras, which he recently concluded with a holiday special."
It was a Christmas Special, not a "holiday special".
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1-04-2008 @ 12:34PM
Keith McDuffee said...
Yeah Joel, get your facts straight! Everyone knows Christmas isn't a holiday!
1-04-2008 @ 6:52PM
MrMuggs said...
It was called a the "Christmas Special" and not the "holiday special." If you want to whitewash and retroactively make everything politically correct feel free to do so but the proper title is "Christmas Special." This is a TV site and accuracy is expected so don't fault Derek for voicing a correction.
See here for the episode name and title:
http://www.tvrage.com/Extras/episodes/608705
1-04-2008 @ 7:19PM
Keith McDuffee said...
Muggs, Joel said "a holiday special," not saying it was the title. That's like correcting him for saying "an episode" and saying "it wasn't an episode, it was 'Ian McKellan'. Get your facts straight you supposed TV professional writer!"
1-04-2008 @ 10:14PM
Pumpkinhead said...
Derek and MrMuggs, please allow me to clarify in case Keith's comments are too cerebral for you. Calling something a "holiday special" is not incorrect just because one does not specify what the holiday is. For example, lets say that you, Derek and MrMuggs, are each a certain part of the human body. Suppose I then say, "Hey, Derek and MrMuggs, you're a couple of body parts." That statement isn't rendered incorrect just because I didn't specify what part of the body you are.
1-04-2008 @ 12:42PM
Paul said...
Stephen Merchant is a legend, I'd watch anything with him in - this sounds like a great idea.
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1-04-2008 @ 2:28PM
Jimmy said...
I loved Extras, but I can't imagine an entire series built around Barry.
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1-04-2008 @ 7:10PM
Derek said...
Not built *only* around Barry. The agent Darren Lamb would be in it too.
Ricky has been doing more solo stuff (film parts, cameos, chat show appearances, standup comedy tours, his books etc) so I imagine that Stephen has a fair bit of downtime compared to Ricky. I can imagine Stephen wanting his own side project in addition to the upcoming Ricky/Stephen written show.
1-09-2008 @ 1:34AM
Phish said...
as long as keith mcduffee doesnt blog the spinoff, i'll watch it! haha no offense keith
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