Extras - Series One (2005)

In Extras’ bête noire, The Office, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s strengths lay in nailing the unbearable difficulty of living an average life in a Heat-obsessed world, here epitomised by Andy (Gervais) and pal Maggie’s (Ashley Jensen) futile search for acting credibility. Extras never works better than when it gets the star of tabloid tat circa 2002, Les Dennis, to strip and talk suicide. Spliced with footage of a young lady whose life has been ruined by her pushy, gay Dad, it smashes boundaries no other episode prods.

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