Extras
| Television series | |
|---|---|
| German title | Extras |
| Original title | Extras |
 | |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Year (s) | 2005-2007 |
| Production company |
BBC , HBO |
| length | 30 minutes |
| Episodes | 13 in 2 seasons ( list ) |
| genre | Dramedy , comedy , sitcom , satire |
| Theme music | Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman |
| idea | Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant |
| production | Charlie Hanson , Jon Plowman , Ricky Gervais , Stephen Merchant |
| camera | Martin Hawkins |
| First broadcast | July 21, 2005 on BBC Two |
| German-language first broadcast |
January 16, 2007 on Comedy Central |
| occupation | |
| |
Extras ( dt. : Extras ) is a British comedy - TV show , written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant , the first in the UK aired (on 21 July 2005 on BBC Two ).
In 2005, the first season with six episodes was broadcast on BBC Two, from September 14, 2006 the second season ran. On December 27, 2007, the 90-minute Christmas special that closes the story of the series ran.
As of January 16, 2007, the series was broadcast on Comedy Central .
people
main characters
- Andy Millman , an unsuccessful actor who survives as an extra, played by co-writer and co-director Ricky Gervais. Andy is basically a nice, but frustrated guy with little social sensitivity. With his undiplomatic directness and cynicism, he often makes mistakes. He usually endures the constant humiliation by directors and colleagues with fatalism . He has neither a wife nor a girlfriend. His best friend is Maggie Jacobs. He's trying to get his own sitcom on TV; When this actually appears in the second season under the name When the Whistle Blows , it was changed by the producers in such a way that Millman's original, much more profound approaches only shallow slapstick, which serves numerous negative sitcom clichés.
- Maggie Jacobs , his colleague (Ashley Jensen). Maggie, who comes from Scotland, has a close platonic relationship with Andy and is looking in vain for great love. She has come to terms with being an extra. Maggie is even more stupid and naive and has even less diplomatic sensitivity than Andy himself and with her naivety brings him into very uncomfortable situations again and again - but Andy forgives all of them because she is basically kind-hearted.
Minor characters
- Darren Lamb (Stephen Merchant) is Millman's stupid, lazy and incompetent "agent". He does Andy more harm than good. "Meetings" with Lamb drag Andy down every time.
- Shaun "Barry from EastEnders " Williamson (plays himself). He is admired by the others because he played a real role.
- Greg Lindley-Jones (Shaun Pye) is also an extra and Andy's enemy. Whenever the opportunity presents itself, he harms the good-natured Andy.
action
Each Extras episode is set on a different film set , each with a different famous actor being filmed. Common to all episodes are Andy's desperate efforts to get a part with text and Maggie's futile attempts to tow colleagues away.
In the second season, Andy's fictional show-in-a-show sitcom When the Whistle Blows is an additional topic of every episode and individual scenes from it can also be seen.
Awards
In 2007, Ricky Gervais was awarded the Emmy for Best Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as Andy Millman , while the format was nominated for a total of four US television awards in 2006 and 2007. Other awards include a BAFTA Award , two British Comedy Awards and two Rose d'Or awards . In 2008, the series won the Golden Globe Award in the Best Series (Comedy / Musical) category.
music
The theme music is the song Tea for the Tillerman by Cat Stevens .
DVD publications
The first season was released on March 28, 2008 by Polyband on DVD.
The first and second seasons were released in Germany on November 15, 2013 by Turbine Medien on DVD, each season in a DVD case and both together in a box set including the Christmas special with German subtitles.
Trivia
- Karl Pilkington , who, together with Gervais and Merchant , moderated a radio program and audio podcasts based on it later, had a brief cameo as an autograph hunter in the series finale , who refused Andy's offer to write him an autograph due to its reduced popularity. As he leaves, Andy quietly makes a derogatory remark about the round head of the fan, an allusion to the radio show mentioned at the beginning, in which Karl's head shape was also often discussed and mocked by Gervais.
- Andy Millman's sitcom When the Whistle Blows , he said, was originally intended to be a sitcom with a realistic setting in an office and without a smile . This is a reference to the sitcom, The Office , in which Gervais also starred and wrote the scripts with Stephen Merchant.
- Contrary to Millman's original ideas, the sitcom When the Whistle Blows only offers flat slapstick in the end, which serves numerous negative sitcom clichés, in addition to the usual laugh tracks, about stereotypical figures, pseudo-funny wigs and the use of catchphrases . Gervais intended this as a parody of old-fashioned sitcoms, but also as a subversive criticism of the then current sitcoms and other comedy shows, especially Little Britain , which also relied heavily on catchphrases and wigs as elements of humor. One sees in a scene in the studio audience of When the Whistle Blows a man with a "I'm a Lady" T-shirt sitting, a reference to the Little Britain -Figur Emily Howard .
- Shaun Williamson, mostly referred to as "Barry from EastEnders ", plays himself. He actually became known for his role as Barry Evans in the popular British early-evening soap opera EastEnders , where he satirized himself and his declining popularity after his retirement Series.
- Kate Winslet says when she appeared in episode 3 of the first season, in which she starred in a Holocaust film, that she was in Holocaust films because it had a good chance of winning an Oscar . Ironically, Winslet actually won an Oscar in 2009 for her role in the Holocaust film The Reader .
Web links
- Extras in the Internet Movie Database (English)