Jump to content

Extras (TV series)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 81.225.216.121 (talk) at 11:10, 27 December 2005. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Extras
File:Extraslogo.png
Created byRicky Gervais and Stephen Merchant
StarringRicky Gervais
Ashley Jensen
Country of originUK/USA
No. of episodes6
Production
Running timeapprox. 0:29 (per episode)
Original release
NetworkBBC/HBO
ReleaseJuly 21, 2005 –
present

Extras is a sitcom about extras working on movie sets. It is written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. The series is filmed in a more traditional sitcom style than the mockumentary style used by Gervais and Merchant's previous award winning series The Office. The series is a BBC/HBO co-production which first aired on July 21, 2005 on BBC2 in the UK and premiered on September 25, 2005 on HBO in the US. The first series DVD was released in the UK on October 31, 2005.

A second series is already being planned; Brad Pitt and Madonna are among those reported to be interested in guest starring, Gervais having spoken personally with both of them at the Live 8 event in London.

The series has no traditional opening credits theme tune. Each episode usually begins with a short segment from the production on which Andy and Maggie are working, followed by a fade into the white Extras logo on a black background. Each episode does, however, end with the same music over the closing credits: an excerpt of the Cat Stevens song "Tea for the Tillerman", the title track from his 1970 album of the same name.

Synopsis

The show follows Andy Millman and his friend Maggie Jacobs as they work as movie extras. Each episode (except number 4) is based around a different film with Andy and Maggie playing extras. Andy tends to spend a lot of his time looking for ways to get a speaking role, while Maggie is more content with looking among the cast and crew for a boyfriend. Every episode has at least one guest star (a television/movie celebrity), and these guest stars play what Gervais and Merchant have referred to as "twisted" versions of themselves.

Cast / Characters

Main cast

Andy used to work in a bank, but he chucked it in to pursuit his lifelong dream of becoming an actor. Sadly, he hasn't made it yet, and is forced to scrape a living as an extra on the sets of various movie and television productions. Being around far more successful performers has, not unnaturally, made him a bit cynical and bitter about the whole process. Still, he gives it his best shot, but is usually scuppered in his various attempts to improve his lot - partly due to his agent's utter incompetence, partly due to events and people beyond his control, but mostly due to his own ability to step right in it, and then dig a hole for himself when trying to extricate himself.
Maggie is Andy's best friend, and fellow extra. Maggie is a genuinely sweet and well-meaning soul who only wants to help. Unfortunately, her general social incompetence and complete lack of any sort of internal censor means that she's more than likely say precisely the wrong thing to the wrong person at exactly the wrong time, despite her lack of malicious intent - which usually means that she's just as likely to humilate Andy as help him. Maggie is constantly on the lookout for Mr. Right, but her frequent attempts are usually scuttled quite spectacularly.

Recurring cast

Darren Lamb is literally the worst agent in the history of acting. Incapable of breaking an act, his usual negotiating tactic is usually to agree with whatever anyone else says or, more likely, suggest someone other than his client for the part. He's very good at deducting his 12.5% pay deduction, however. His skill at his profession can be summed up by the fact that he once left his office phone unplugged for two days without noticing.
Shaun Williamson plays himself as one of Darren's clients. He used to play 'Barry' on the popular British soap opera EastEnders, but left to pursue a multi-million pound contract elsewhere. As Darren is his agent, this was a spectacular failure, and the most recent job his agent has managed to secure for him is changing a lightbulb. It says a lot about Shaun's career prospects that even his own agent doesn't know his real name, but instead calls him 'Barry from EastEnders'. He is, quite naturally, very depressed about his life.
Greg is a fellow extra. Unlike Andy, he has often secured a line in various productions; as a result, he possesses an extremely high opinion of himself, and is extremely belittling to Andy and his fellow extras. Underneath this, he's extremely petty, jealous and snide - probably because he wouldn't be doing so well if it weren't for the support given by his wealthy parents.

Guest stars

Each week saw one celebrity guest star (excluding the second episode, in which both Ross Kemp and Vinnie Jones appeared) who was usually the star of the show / movie in which Andy and Maggie were extras in. These celebrities usually played an exaggerated or inverted parody of their famous public personas. They were, in order of original broadcast;

Ben Stiller is directing a movie based on the experiences of Goran, a survivor of the Balkans War. He's a bit more interested in the blood-and-guts side of the story than the emotional tragedy of the loss of Goran's family. He's bullying and arrogant on set, with a higher opinion of his previous movies than most of the people he's surrounded with.
Ross Kemp is starring as Admiral Horatio Nelson in a drama based on Nelson's life. He latches on to Andy, fond of boasting exactly how strong he is and how, according to him, he once 'headbutted a horse'. He considers himself tougher than Vinnie Jones. Jones takes umbrage at this.
Kate Winslet is starring in a World War Two drama about nuns hiding Jewish refugees from the Nazis - purely for the Oscar opportunity it presents. She takes a great interest in Maggie's sex life with her boyfriend, and proves a surprisingly enthusiastic coach on some of the more interesting things to say during phone sex.
Les Dennis is starring in a pantomime version of Aladdin in which Andy has landed a role as the Genie. He's fond of flaunting his attractive fiancée to everyone on set - probably because he's been going through a pretty bad patch recently, and is reduced to ringing up celebrity magazines to report sightings of himself. Underneath it all, he's self-pitying and morose, largely because he's only remembered for an impression of a character from Coronation Street that isn't that good to begin with.
Samuel L. Jackson is starring in a police thriller about a rogue American cop let loose in London. He takes a dim view of some of Andy and Maggie's comments on race.
Patrick Stewart is starring in an Shakespearean adaptation of The Tempest that Maggie and Andy are extras on. He's pleasant and understanding to Andy, graciously offering him advice and agreeing to pass his sitcom script around. This may be because he's also writing his own script - one which, given the amount of women whose clothes fall off during the action, reveals more about his ideas on sex than he perhaps realizes.

Episode guide

Template:Spoiler

Episode 1

Guest star: Ben Stiller
First airing: July 21, 2005 (UK)

This episode is based around a film about the life of Goran, whose wife died in the Balkans War. It is being directed by Ben Stiller, with Andy and Maggie playing extras in the film. Andy attempts to getting a speaking part by befriending Goran and, after giving him a £15 Topshop voucher, Goran gets him a line. However, Andy then gets in an argument with Ben and is kicked off the set.

Quotations

  • Ben Stiller: "A lot of you might be thinking, 'Why am I making this movie?' Sure, you guys look at me as one of the world's most successful comedy actors ... what does that mean? I mean, yeah, I make Along Came Polly, it opens to $32 million, one of the biggest Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday holiday opening weekends ever, goes on to gross 170 million worldwide. Meet the Parents, double that. But what does the money and the success mean in real terms? If I find a little orphan child in a warzone, hiding in a burnt out building. His parents, murdered. Persecuted for his race, his religion. What am I gonna do? Pop on Dodgeball on DVD?
    Goran: "Is funny film."
    Ben: Thanks, and I can put on Dodgeball, and he's gonna laugh for an hour and 32 minutes, you know, escape reality for a while, but what happens when the film finishes? Back to reality. Still an orphan. Still living with fear. How do I help him? Put on Dodgeball again? Sure, he's gonna laugh again. He'll see things he didn't see the first time, it's layered, it was made like that. But, this can't go on indefinitely. All right, at a certain point, you know, after the fifth, sixth, seventh viewing, he's ... still laughing, but it's not getting to the root of the problem. OK? How do I help him?"
    Andy Millman: (quietly, to Maggie) "Make Dodgeball 2?"
  • Maggie Jacobs: (commenting on attractive man's high-fibre lunch) "No bowel cancer for you, then!"
  • Ben Stiller: "Who are you?"
    Andy Millman: "Nobody."
    Ben: "What's that? Who?"
    Andy: "Nobody."
    Ben: "That's right. Nobody. Yeah. And who am I?"
    Andy: "It's either Starsky or Hutch, I can never remember."
    Ben: "Was that supposed to be funny?"
    Andy: "You tell me, you were in it."
  • Ben Stiller: "I've kissed Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore! I, uh, I slapped Jennifer Aniston's butt!
    Maggie Jacobs: "In films."
    Ben: "It still counts! ... It still counts! ... It still counts."

Episode 2

Guest stars: Ross Kemp, Vinnie Jones
First airing: July 28, 2005 (UK)

Ross Kemp acts in epic period drama and befriends Andy (who is working as an extra). Kemp believes he has had SAS training and is as "hard" as the characters he plays on-screen. This episode introduces Andy's incompetent agent Darren (played by Merchant) who consistently fails to get him any work. Kemp's old EastEnders co-star Shaun Williamson (aka Barry Evans) shares the same agent but the last paid work Darren got for him was changing a lightbulb. Back on set there are rumours that Vinnie Jones is working nearby and looking for a fight with Kemp.

Trivia

  • The joke that Shaun Williamson is so identified with his former EastEnders character that even his own agent calls him "Barry" is carried through to the end credits, which list him as playing Barry (rather than playing himself, which is actually the case).

Quotations

  • Andy Millman: "Sorry, the reason I'm here is, I want to know what your plan of action is. What's your strategy, what is your business plan?"
    Darren Lamb: "Well, my plan is, when you get some work, then I can start making some money. 'Cause what I'm no good at, is, you know, breaking an act."
    Andy: "Oh! So, when I'm successful, you can deduct 12.5%, no problem."
    Darren: "15 for adverts. That's what I'm hanging on for, really."
    Andy: (incredulous) "Yeah? You just want someone to call up and give me an advert?"
    Darren: "That would be amazing; that would be brilliant."
    Andy: "Right, OK. Make sure the phone's on the hook, then."
    Darren: "You joke about it; it was unplugged for two days! No one noticed. Tsk!"

Episode 3

Guest star: Kate Winslet
First airing: August 4, 2005 (UK), September 25, 2005 (USA)

Working as extras on the set of World War 2 holocaust movie, Andy and Maggie meet the star Kate Winslet. Maggie is currently involved in a three-week relationship with a props man who wants her to talk dirty with him over the phone. Maggie has no idea what to say and asks Kate for advice. On his finding this out, Maggie gets dumped by her boyfriend.

Andy is also romantically distracted and is chasing a Catholic woman. He (an atheist) lies to her in his attempt to "get off" with her - which fails.

Quotations

  • Andy Millman: "Have you talked dirty back to him? Have you?"
    Maggie Jacobs: "No, no, I have not. I don't know what to say to him, it's too embarassing. What if I say, like, something and he just laughs at me, or something and he, and it's too much and he gets all offended."
    Andy: "Well, no, it's just all stuff like, 'Ooh, I'm playing with myself.'"
    Kate Winslet: "Sounds interesting."
    Andy: (surprised) "Hi. Not me. Her."
    Kate: "Go on."
    Andy: "Her boyfriend likes to talk dirty on the phone and she doesn't know what to say to him."
    Kate: "Oh, yeah, that can be a bit awkward. Well, why don't you just start off with something light, you know, like, um, 'I'd love it if you stuck your Willy Wonka between my Oompa Loompas.' You know, something a bit fun, a bit jokey. And then you can get more hardcore, rattle off the old classics, like, 'I'm playing with my dirty pillows,' 'I'm aching for your big purple-headed womb-ferret,' and then go straight in hard, like, 'Get 'round here 'cause I'm fudding myself stupid and I'm bloody loving it.' Right?"
    Maggie: "Yeah."
  • Darren Lamb: (checks computer) "Errm. Do you want to put another meeting in?"
    Andy Millman: "Any point?"
    Darren: "May as well. Errm. And then when nothing comes in just phone you up and cancel it."
    Andy: "That's a plan."

Episode 4

Guest star: Les Dennis
First airing: August 11, 2005 (UK)

This episode is set around the panto Aladdin in Guildford which stars Les Dennis. Andy manages to get a speaking part as the Genie (since John Thomson fluffed the audition and Christopher Biggins is busy). Les Dennis is current engaged to a 26 year old Simone. The local newspaper describes:

"Family Fortunes loser Les Dennis is on the comeback trail thanks to a starring role in Aladdin. Things are looking up for Les (50) who recently announced his engagement to beautiful fiancée Simone Lewis (26). With an age gap of a quarter of a century, Dennis is clearly punching above his weight again but insists they are very much in love."

Dennis is on the verge of a mental breakdown and, after discovering Simone cheating with a stagehand, stops in the middle of the first night of the panto.

When she comes to visit, Maggie bumps into an old friend whose father is directing the play. Maggie attends the girl's birthday party (the only other guests there are family) but is asked to leave after she suggests to her friend that she stops her father from running her life.

Quotations

  • Andy: (prompting him) "Where do you want to go from?"
    Les: "How about 1992?"
  • Les: (Genie appears out of a big lamp) "Blimey! What a big poof."
    Andy: (as Genie) "Cheeky!"
    Les: "Who are you?"
    Andy: "Well, I'll be anyone you want me to be but you can call me Genie."
    Les: "How does someone as big as you squeeze into this tiny lamp?"
    Andy: "Don't worry about it. I'm used to squeezing myself into tight holes! Ewwwwgh! No pain, no gain."

Episode 5

Guest star: Samuel L. Jackson
First airing: August 18, 2005 (UK)

On the set of a police thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson as a maverick American cop in the UK, Andy aquires a stalker - a middle aged divorced bald man who asks Andy over to watch Vera Drake on DVD.

Andy actually has a line in this episode with Samuel L. Jackson and gets to say "Ten to one he's going to pick Sgt. Harris again!". In an attempt to be nice to his stalker he eventually agrees to go to dinner with him, but finally snaps when his stalker presents him with two tickets for the Ben Elton musical We Will Rock You.

In this episode, Maggie has problems with the issue of race, despite chasing the young black actor Danny. All seems to be going well with Danny until she eventually says the wrong thing and he walks out. When she chats with Samuel L. Jackson on set the day after, she desperately attempts to not appear racist. Andy joins in the conversation, which doesn't turn out well and Andy is asked to leave the set (forfeiting his line with Samuel L. Jackson.)

Quotations

  • Jobsworth: "...Whoa. Where are you going? You can't come on here, it's actors only."
    Andy: "I am an actor"
    Jobsworth: "No, you're background. Your bus is over there. This is for actors."
    Andy: "I am an actor."
    Jobsworth: "No, your voucher's green, that means you're background."
    Andy: "Right. So you're judging my entire career on the colour of my badge."
    Jobsworth: "No, I'm sure you've had major roles in other things."
    Maggie: "He hasn't."
    Andy: "Shut up."

Episode 6

Guest star: Patrick Stewart
First airing: August 25, 2005 (UK)

Both Andy and Maggie are working on a production of Shakespeare's The Tempest alongside Patrick Stewart. Eager to get his self-penned sitcom script noticed, he gives a copy to Patrick Stewart who tells him about his own self-penned film starring himself, which is basically just an hour and a half of women with their clothes falling off all the time. Patrick agrees to circulate the script, and BBC Comedy are interested and invite Andy for a meeting. During the meeting, Andy is asked to rewrite his script alongside an extremely camp man called Damon, with a view to a pilot episode being filmed.

While writing the script, Maggie pops in while Damon is leaving to get some coffee, and Andy talks about how Damon is basically a stereotypical gay and how it gets on his nerves a little. Maggie leaves and tells Damon that Andy is finding his campiness annoying, which greatly insults Damon.

Andy is called into the BBC to talk about this, and finds out that Maggie told Damon his feelings about him and Damon is upset with him over his apparent homophobic attitude, and the producer (who reveals that he is also gay) warns Andy that there's a chance the plug could be pulled on the pilot.

Andy goes over to see Maggie and is furious with her for telling Damon that he didn't like him and that her attempts to help could demolish what might be his big break. He tells her that she needs to sort her own messed-up life out before interfering with his before storming away. Maggie is shaken, and this simply reinforces feelings she's already having about her grotty lifestyle. She cleans up her flat, removes her toys and posters, and straightens her hair.

At the BBC, Andy gives his sincerest apologies to Damon, and stresses he is not homophobic. Damon accepts his apology, and the pilot is back on.

Maggie leaves the set of yet another job, to find Andy with Patrick Stewart on his mobile phone, who tells Maggie that Andy is sorry and wants to be friends again. He starts to ask Maggie to star in his film when Andy quickly cuts him off. The two reconcile, and all is well again.

Trivia

  • Jude Law was originally lined up to appear in this episode, Patrick Stewart stepped in at the last minute. The final shot of the episode is dominated by a poster for Law's film Alfie.
  • The initial scene, featuring Patrick Stewart as Prospero, is a nod to the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, Emergence, the initial scene of which features Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard coaching Brent Spiner as Data in the exact same scene.

Quotations

  • Patrick Stewart: "You're not married, you don't have a girlfriend, you live alone... and you've never seen Star Trek? Good Lord..."
  • Patrick Stewart: "Hello Maggie. This is Patrick Stewart. And the reason you're hearing my rich, sexy voice is that Andy isn't man enough to apologise himself, so he's asked me to do it."

Influences

The HBO series The Larry Sanders Show is a big influence; it also had celebrities guest star as exaggerated versions of themselves, mocking their public image. In addition, TLSS showed what happens behind-the-scenes of producing a talk show; Extras does the same for movies.

Another HBO series, Curb Your Enthusiasm, is another influence, and Gervais has said as much in interviews. The show follows the everyday life Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, with comedy often coming from friction that develops between David and others. These others often include celebrity guests like Ted Danson, David Schwimmer and Ben Stiller (who has appeared as himself in The Larry Sanders Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Extras). Gervais also lists another comedy series David co-created, Seinfeld, among his chief influences, most notably in the similarites between the friendships of Maggie and Andy in Extras and Jerry and Elaine in Seinfeld. Although Seinfeld was one of the most popular American TV shows ever made, it never achieved a large audience in the UK, mainly due to the BBC's scheduling, which didn't heavily promote the show and aired it after 11pm weeknights on its secondary channel (BBC 2).

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Extras.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Extras_(TV_series)&oldid=32866076"