The first series was about, I suppose,
that dream, aspiration, people trying.
I'm an extra in this, but I'm an actor really.
And, well... I'm desperate.
The second series was, I suppose, "Be careful what you wish for."
♪ Little fat man who sold his soul
"The little... "?
♪ Little fat man who sold his dream
And this one is, he's doing OK
and he's got all the fame and all the fortune,
but now it's just not enough.
To the public there's no difference between me and that.
- Little fat ugly thing? Pathetic? - No.
I put oh... I put on a wig and shout a catchphrase.
Is he having a laugh?
- (man) Why are you stopping the show? - It's not what I wanted to do,
shout a catchphrase to a load of morons for a living.
No, I...
Andy's career has elevated to a degree of success,
and Maggie's still sort of scrabbling about.
- Byron's spent the night with a prostitute. - I'm not happy with this.
- Right... - I wouldn't pay for that.
We've kind of gone on this journey
and it really truly is about friendship.
Steve, a lot of people are saying:
"Oh, God! Why are you stopping another award-winning series
after 12 half-hours and a feature-length special?" And...
- Well, who's saying that? - Lots of people.
- But who specifically? - I'm gonna answer them. Um...
It sounds like you've pretended people are asking that
to make it seem like people give a rat's ass.
But I'm not sure they do, do they? Go on.
And I'm gonna answer the millions of people.
- Because... Just... - Millions?
Seems unlikely that millions of people would ask that.
Have they all got together as a committee and emailed you?
Or they're on the street?
It just sounds implausible.
We don't even get millions of viewers, do we?
If these people did ask, what would you say?
Well, I'd say...
Just... I want to stop now. I'm not bothered.
(Ashley) What is nice is it's a relationship based on friendship.
- Hi. - Hello.
And a friendship between a male and female,
which sort of doesn't really happen very often,
and I think that's what a lot of people really like.
Don't make me laugh. Don't make me laugh.
There was a real sort of comedy double act,
sort of Laurel and Hardy-esque thing going on.
So, how long have you worked for Andy?
- Three hours. - No. Think.
- No. - What's she talking about?
- Just be honest. Go on. - Three... ears.
I think by the time we get to the special, it's all much more dramatic.
What we've written
is really the further adventures of Andy Millman - played by Ricky Gervais -
who now is a successful TV sitcom star, but who is still unhappy.
He dreamed of stardom, but has found out it's not as much fun as he thought.
And also that he's still not achieved what he really wanted to, which is respect.
I don't want to come up with more characters with catchphrases
to enhance my reputation amongst kids and morons.
I want to do something credible. I might want to direct one day. I need respect.
There's a phrase we use in it- "Fame is a mask that eats into the face."
And it does with Andy, and he has a bit of a breakdown, a bit of an identity crisis.
And, Maggie...
- You can't keep coming up to me. - I can't what?
Not in front of the extras.
They see you, they go, "She's an extra. She's his equal, maybe we are. "
- I'm not an extra. - No, you were.
And so were you.
Someone asked have I got lots of funny things to do in the Christmas special?
I thought about it,
and there's actually quite a lot of "Maggie wells up", "Maggie drops a little tear".
I've accomplished nothing. I have brought nothing to the world.
Look at that. Harold Pinter and his wife. Having lunch with Geri Halliwell.
Why am I not over there?
Andy is so preoccupied with his trivial problems -
how famous is he, is he getting all the work he should,
are other actors getting more respect?
She's got real-life issues.
There is the lavatory. It's everything you need. You'd never have to leave.
If the worst comes to the worst, if you were bedridden with a spinal injury,
then it's all here, should that happen.
Where do I sleep?
(Ricky) I suppose she falls into what you might call a proper depression.
This flags up an interesting element of this special...
- More drama. - Right. Alongside the laughs...
Well, some would say, "More drama", some would say, "Less funny".
So say you've got an hour of programme,
people go, "More drama", they mean there's less comedy.
Let's look at it like that. This is a lot less funny than some of the stuff we've done.
Two reasons for that.
One, I'm very lazy.
Two, I'm bored with it. I told you. That's why I'm stopping it.
(musical interlude)
(all laugh)
Merry Christmas, everyone!
We have made a sort of TV movie, really, on a sitcom budget.
Value for money.
And, yeah... We went a little bit more filmic,
which basically means do the same old tat, but put it on a track.
Yep.
"Oh, hold on! He's saying something interesting. Move in."
You're giving away a lot of insider secrets.
"What are you doing?" "Putting another light up." "Brilliant. Put two lights up."
"This is like a film!"
It's a film in the sense that it's longer than Entourage.
But shorter than The Godfather.
Although it does feel almost as long at times,
particularly in the middle, where it sags.
Like me. I sag in the middle. And on the undercarriage.
I don't so much sag any more as pendulate.
- I made that word up for you. - Doesn't even exist.
As an award-winning writer, he can just make up words.
Americans go, "These English people, what a wonderful vocabulary."
He "pendulates". I'm talking about my testicles, we all know that.
Andy, hi. Take a seat.
- Andrew Millman. - Greg.
Talk a little about the relationship between Andy and his arch-nemesis Greg.
OK.
Greg has always been, I suppose, the thorn in my side.
Me and Andy are very old friends.
We've been climbing the slippery show-biz ladder together.
Some of us got a little further than others.
He's smug, he's more successful,
he's very ungracious in victory, he's privileged,
and - I think the actor, Shaun Pye, would agree -
he's got a punchable face.
Guilty as charged.
All things people could level at you. But we've put it onto another character in this.
Yeah, that's it. Transference, it's called.
Or bimodulation.
- (whispers) I made that up as well. - I know.
- What about you? - Great.
- You got lots on? - Mental. I was just saying... Yeah.
I saw you as a slug in "Doctor Who". Very convincing.
Space serpent.
(Ricky) You don't judge yourself against presidents and world leaders.
The bloke you see every day is a constant reminder of how well you're doing.
They started off as extras
and Greg took, I suppose, a more fortunate path.
Now he's making a movie with one of our guest stars, Clive Owen.
It's the funniest sitcom I think I've ever seen on TV, that's why.
I'm a huge fan of Extras, that's why I did it.
In it, I'm playing Byron,
and Maggie gets a part as an extra on the show
and the scene develops out of that.
Jesus.
I don't want to be difficult, but I would never pay for a prostitute like that.
What if she wasn't a prostitute? What if she was just a slut, so it was free?
- Yeah, I still could do better, though. - Hm.
Afterwards, I came off and an extra looked at me and said:
"I don't think that Clive Owen should've said that."
And I said, "What?"
"Well, I don't think you're bad-looking. You're all right."
Got to get another one. OK, you. Over here, please. Yeah.
Oh, fuck off! I'm Clive Owen. That's mental!
- But it's not all about the guest stars. - No.
- Do you... - Sorry, I...
We had nothing there.
It's not all about the guest stars. It's, er... it's about the others as well.
A lot of other actors in this episode. Loads of actors in this episode.
- How the hell did you do that? - I don't know. They get stuck.
That's stuck fast. If I...
(Shaun Williamson) I will miss very much the Barry-agent bond.
I think it's been one of the most enjoyable acting partnerships of my life, definitely.
Just pull, Darren!
- What about my head, brainiac? - I can't help if you don't pull back!
I am pulling back. What exactly is your plan?
What are you actually intending to do now?
You can picture the agent and Barry sleeping in bed together
à la Morecambe and Wise in striped pyjamas,
and you sort of know there'll be nothing underhand going on under the covers.
They'll just turn the light out and go to sleep.
- Bar? - Yeah?
I could do with a hug, mate.
Yeah.
- Queers! - Ignore him.
I would love there to be a spin-off
of Barry and Darren Lamb.
I think they could go all over the country sorting people's problems out
or trying to find new forms of wildlife
or, um... you know,
inventing new recipes or something.
I think there's definitely scope there, and I'd like to see it, personally.
We are a bit overstaffed.
There would only be a vacancy if one of them got an acting job.
- Or if one of us dies. - That is more likely.
Statistically, yes.
I was invited to appear at the Secret Policeman's Ball at the Albert Hall.
I would never have been offered that in a million years at EastEnders.
It was quite overwhelming, because I stepped out on stage
to do a scene with an American actor from Saturday Night Live - very hip -
but when the lights went up, there was this huge roar from about 8,000 people.
And it really knocked me out, really.
And that's pretty much all to do with Extras.
- Yes? - Oh!
You all right?
- Is he in? - Yes.
I've known Dean Gaffney for... how long?
- About 13 years. - At least.
('60s-style ring tone)
- That's my mum. - Even Dean called me Barry today.
Deano, a Motorola accessory pack, s'il vous plaît.
Sure, Barry.
- Shit. "Barry." Sorry. - (crew laughs)
(man) Mic was in, Amber.
- (man imitates "EastEnders" drum beat) - Just doing it now.
(bleep)
- Sorry. So sorry. - (Ricky) Oh, God.
- No, no. This isn't easy. It's "Wellard". - (laughter)
I'm just gonna have "Barry" on my gravestone. No point moaning about it.
- Don't fight it. - Paid for my house, didn't he?
I didn't realise that I was a corpser until I did this job.
(man) Action!
- Maggie. You can't... - (both laugh)
That was me.
Sometimes the more serious the scene is, the more difficult it is.
And, Maggie...
You can't keep coming up to me.
- (man) Same place. - Sorry, everybody.
This particular bit was when Licky...
Licky? Ricky.
...had to say, "Life's cruel."
- (man) Action! - You lied.
- He really wants to see you. - Life's cruel.
(man) Reset. Action.
- He really wants to see you. - Life's cruel.
(man) Reset.
- He really wants to see you. - Life's cruel. Oh, come on.
(man) Reset.
Life's cruel.
(man) Reset.
We managed to do that, and then the words, "Oh, Maggie?"
suddenly sounded like they were suspended in the air,
and that became funny.
- (man) Action. - And, Maggie...
(man) Same place.
And, Maggie...
- (man) Same place. - And, Maggie...
(man) No. Reset.
Oh, for fuck's sake. OK.
And, Maggie...
- Oh. OK, this is it. - This is it.
- OK. OK. - (man) And roll.
- OK. OK. - (man) Action.
And, Maggie...
- You can't keep coming up to me. - I can't what?
You can't keep coming to talk to me to...
It doesn't sound funny talking about it now,
but try doing it with Ricky's face three feet away from you.
- That'll do, won't it? - (sighs) Um...
"How did the special come about?"
- We got offered money to do it. - Yeah.
"How did you like shooting a feature-length special?"
Fine.
"How did Clive Owen get involved?" I called him.
He called and asked me to do it.
"Where would you find Andy in five years?" Dunno.
"Where would Maggie be in the future?"
They've tried to make that look like a different question.
1,000 years in the future? She's just a head in a jar.
She's surrounded by glangmores. "Maggie, what are you doing?"
"Argh! It's the future!"
Oh, those bloody glangmores. What are they like?