Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1226 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-11-03
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 5
• Running time: 451 minutes

Synopsis
Contains series one and two of the comedy show EXTRAS, as well as the EXTRAS special.
In series one, Andy Millman (Ricky Gervais) is an actor but his agent cannot get him an acting job. Instead he is just an extra in films, 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.
Series two of EXTRAS finds extra Andy Millman commissioned by the BBC to create and star in the sitcom 'When The Whistle Blows'. However, Andy's initial happiness with his achievement is soon quelled when he finds he has to make a lowest common denominator show in order to appeal to the broadest possible audience. Andy's sitcom has been transformed from a show that was in many ways like Gervais' groundbreaking previous show THE OFFICE into a catchphrase-driven show that's filmed in front of a studio audience. Additionally, he has been told that he has to wear large glasses and a curly perm wig. The second series of EXTRAS sees Millman attempting to adjust to fame and life in the public eye and the compromises that come with. Guest stars include Robert De Niro, Orlando Bloom, David Bowie, Coldplay's Chris Martin, Jonathan Ross, Sir Ian McKellen, and Daniel Radcliffe.
The two series of the deadpan comedy come to a close in this sensational finale. At this point, Ricky Gervais's lowly extra, Andy Millman, has finally made some headway in the entertainment industry. Millman's sitcom, WHEN THE WHISTLE BLOWS, has been commissioned and is an outright hit. Unfortunately its three series of predictable plotlines and critical beatings have begun to weigh on its creator. In this climax to the celebrity-studded series, Andy Millman has to make the tough decision on whether to give up all he's worked for in a bid for respectability.

Customer Reviews

Extras dvd
It would have been helpful to know exactly what was included in the collection. Other boxed sets seemed to have different covers and said they included the christmas special and I was not entirely clear if this did too. It does incidentally.

Superb follow-up from the makers of The Office
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's follow-up to The Office was burdened with the weight of how to succeed one of the most popular sitcoms in recent years. Arguably, they have made an even better series.

The Extras follows the fortunes of two struggling bit-part actors and their life on the fringes of stardom: talking to Patrick Stewart as he describes his secret project, in which all the female participants' clothes fall off ("So it's a comedy?" "No."), or Sir Ian Mckellen revealing the secret of his success - that all his lines are written in advance..

Life on the periphery of celebrity makes the majority of the narrative in the first series. Season Two gives us a chance to sample some hard won success, when Gervais' character is finally given a chance to make his cherished sitcom - a sitcom that is meant to be funny but also honest and authentic. The finished product is a pathetic affair in the vein of Some Mothers Do Have Them or My Family ("Ooh, Betty, I think the cat might have just shat out the worst sitcom of all time!" writes one critic). The final closing Specials look at whether Gervais is prepared to walk away from his possibly only chance at stardom, in order to redeem his self-respect and credibility.

People like Robert De Niro and Samuel L. Jackson have walk-on parts in Extras and those who would normally be in the background of a film take centre stage. This is no celebrity love-in, quite the opposite. Extras exposes the hollow existence of fame, especially that pursued by those who have no ostensible talent, something The Office briefly touched on.

Bottom line, though, is that Extras is hilarious. Co-writer and director Stephen Merchant, who had only a cameo in The Office, takes a major supporting role as Gervais' incompetent manager ("Barry from Eastenders" is also on his books: "I've got plenty of work lined up for you!" "Like what?" "A lightbulb upstairs needs changing"); he steels almost every scene he's in. Extras is another fantastic achievement from Gervais and Merchant. The only debate is whether it's better than The Office.

Amazing in more than one way.
I watched the entire boxset over the course of 3 nights after recieving it for Christmas, which just says it all.
But here's the thing, watch it on your own and it's not really that laugh out loud funny. It's funny in the way that the ideas BEHIND everything are funny, but it's not laugh out loud funny. And it makes up for that by being a FANTASTIC drama that you can't help but get sucked into.
There's genuine character development going on over the course of the boxset with a whole host of likable and unlikable characters (who all, by the way, turn in excellent performances.)
It saddens me to see people rating the Special lower because it's a much darker affair, because as pretentious as this will sound, the special is as much a redemption story as it is a comedy, and Andy's character truly has to hit rock bottom before he can really redeem himself and regain his self respect, and the execution is perfect.
The scene in the big brother house where Andy gives a 5 minute rant genuinely moved me to tears and is one of the most poignant statements made in recent years in the field of Comedy.

On the other hand, watch it with a friend or two and it becomes side splittingly funny.

Utterly fantastic.