Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3174 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-10-31
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 175 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Extras,Ricky Gervais' much-anticipated follow-up to The Office, is a quieter affair, and a little less accessible that its award-laden predecessor. But across the six episodes on this first season DVD set are several episodes that will richly reward repeated viewings.

Gervais plays Andy Millman, an actor whose roster of jobs seems to consistently consist of extras work. Each episode follows him on a different production, and also brings in a notable guest star. Lining up throughout the series are the likes of Samuel L Jackson, Kate Winslet and Ben Stiller. And while their presence undoubtedly adds something to each carefully crafted episode, it's perhaps those with the lesser names that show the programme on top form--certainly the appearance of Les Dennis makes for an excellent half hour of comedy-drama.

At the core though is Gervais' Millman--a far easier character to warm to than David Brent--and Ashley Jensen's marvellous Maggie Jacobs. It's these two who consistently provide the show's highlights, and while the headlines have been generated by the all-star roster of names attracted to appear in Extras, it's the two less showy characters who work the best.

Extras isn't a show full of belly laughs, and its fanbase is likely to be smaller than that of The Office. But it's still a quality creation, properly crafted, with an awful lot to it to enjoy and appreciated.--Simon Brew

Synopsis
Andy Millman (Ricky Gervais) is an actor but his agent cannot get him an acting job. Instead he is just an extra in films, a different film a different location, ever hopeful that one day he will actually get some lines. Ricky Gervais' follow up series to the enormously successful THE OFFICE sees Gervais repeating the acute observations on real life used in THE OFFICE, this time in the world of films. Guest stars on EXTRAS include both Hollywood actors (Ben Stiller, Kate Winslett, Samuel.L Jackson, Patrick Stewart) and actors familiar to British television viewers (Ross Kemp and Les Dennis). All the actors are more than happy to send themselves up, whether it be Patrick Stewart and his sex obsession or Kate Winslett only deciding to do a Holocaust film because she thinks she'll win an Oscar for it. Contains all six episodes from the series.

Customer Reviews

Could you get me a line ?
I found the first series of Ricky Gervais's "Extras" to be mildly amusing and clever,but certainly not as funny as "The Office".I thought that the series bore certain similarities to "I'm Alan Partridge" as well ; down on his luck middle aged man seeking his big break working alongside a slightly dysfunctional but loyal female.But again the "Partidge" series was much funnier and at times hilarious. Each of the six episodes of "Extras" are set on different film sites with each one featuring different guest stars,such as Les Dennis , Ben Stiller and Patrick Stewart. Gervais plays an extra alongside his friend and fellow extra Maggie,a Scottish wannabe maneater, and it is their relationship that is the highlight of "Extras" and what helps to makes it so entertaining. There are no particularly memorable scenes , or especially hilarious ones, but there are good, well developed characters in every episode of the series and intelligent and humourous scripts. The Stiller and Dennis episodes were probably the best of the bunch in my opinion.

Maggie steals the show
This is one of the best and funniest programmes I have even seen. There are just so many laugh out moments in this series. The "extra" Maggie Jacobs totally steals the show from under everyone's noses. The scene where she and Andy are talking about Ross Kemp and the Mitchell Brothers is priceless and the racism test Andy gives Maggie had me doubled up with laughter, the best abs workout I've had in ages. The 2nd dics is very good and the deleted scene with the gypsy joke will have tears running down your face.

Buy, watch, enjoy and laugh

Next time...keep it real
First of all I'd like to say I'm a big fan of Ricky Gervais. I LOVED The Office and The Ricky Gervais Podcast. I also liked Ricky's stand up shows. But Extras just isn't funny. My guess is it's not based on anything real, unlike the aforementioned. It's directionless and mildly funny jokes are regurgitated while Gervais can't decide if Andy is the voice of reason or another wally and keeps slipping in and out of character, whereas David Brent was not only a clearly defined character, but he did such an excellent job of portraying that character. Extras picks up slightly episode 6 (Patrick Stewart) when Andy is hired by the BBC to write a pilot for a sitcom based on his own personal experiences (obviously, The Office). Only then does the plot begin to progress. Ricky Gervais should've written about his past personal experiences, why not a sitcom based on a manager trying to break a band in London (he was, after all, Suede's manager before they broke and he clearly loves music)? They could lampoon the music biz - I'm sure there's enough real material there to be exploited. I gave it two stars because I did have the odd chuckle, especially in the scenes where Stephen Merchant featured as as Andy's inept agent.