Customer Reviews

Extras - The Extra Special Series Finale

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This is one of the best TV shows I have ever seen. The writing is first class and the acting amazing. It more of a mini movie than a TV show and brings 'Extras' to a brilliant end. The scene with Clive Owen has to be one of the funniest scenes ever written by Gervais and Merchant. I like many would like to see Extras continue, but can understand why Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant have decided draw the show to an end. Every episode has been fault-less and will go down in history as one of the all time great TV shows.

The modern obsession with fame was explored by writers Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant in The Office in the form of David Brent, a middle manager who made an idiot of himself on a BBC documentary series and then paid for it by losing his job and spending nights making appearances at nightclubs in front of people who couldn't care less about him.

In Extras, Gervais and Merchant returned to the celebrity theme as Andy Millman, the character played by Gervais, discovered that the perks attached to starring in the very popular, albeit extremely lowbrow, comedy, When the Whistle Blows, made it difficult for him to commit to his oft-expressed desire for artistic integrity.

Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale starts with Andy sitting alone on a couch in the Celebrity Big Brother house as the other housemates bicker like emotionally illiterate cretins behind him. This brief scene reveals that when it comes to the conflict between fame and integrity the former is going to win out for Andy at some point during this chapter of Extras.

Gervais convincingly portrays Andy's frustration at his comedic lot and also his desperation when his star fades after he pulls the plug on When the Whistle Blows. "No, I told you a thousand times, I'm not going to play an alien in Dr Who", he asserts to his agent post-Whistle, but in the next scene he's playing an alien in Dr Who.

Andy's progressively more abrasive personality most movingly affects his relationship with his only friend, Maggie (a superb Ashley Jensen).

Maggie's life goes into freefall after she gives up supporting artist work after being degraded by one of her favourite actors on the set of a film about Lord Byron. Clive Owen does an uncomfortably amusing turn as the sexy bastard who insults Maggie.

Andy complains a lot about having to do awful television programs such as Hotel Babylon, but his financially comfortable situation is contrasted with Maggie's dire plight.

Maggie ends up residing in a shabby little flat and vacuuming floors, cleaning toilets and washing dishes for a living. There are some beautifully humorous scenes between Andy and Maggie, including one involving a mud pack and a girdle, that serve to let the viewer know their friendship can be solid, even though it's had its ups and downs, as all meaningful relationships do.

Merchant and Shaun Williamson (aka Barry from EastEnders) are again a terrific double act as the useless agent and his unemployable client, while Shaun Lye, Andy's rival and the man whose parents bought him a house when he was a struggling actor, is deliciously smug as the now successful Greg Lindley Jones.

Gervais and Merchant allow their protagonists to have many and diverse flaws, including jealousy, pettiness, incompetence, stubbornness, stupidity, and arrogance, however, central characters like Andy and Merchant's Darren Lamb are redeemed by traits like vulnerability, loyalty, and sensitivity.

In other words, Gervais and Merchant allow their characters to be human.

It could be argued that Andy's antagonism towards Big Brother and its gathering of "desperate people" (the housemates are, among others, a former contestant on The X Factor and a mother who's well-known because her son was murdered) is undermined by the fact that Gervais watches the show and has discussed episodes of it on his blog.

Although some viewers might think Gervais and Merchant aren't playing it enough for big laughs in Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale, the well-balanced mix of pathos, drama and comedy makes the program brilliant indeed.

Note - Fans of Karl Pilkington should look out for the bald one playing a fickle fan.

Poor Maggie...it was like the Perils of Pauline, all the things she had to go through! Still and all just one of my favorite comedies ever and this episode tied everything up nicely. The DVD is worth the price just for those few minutes of When the Whistle Blows, the gaggingly awful, pre-historic sitcom Andy stars in; it seems esp. moldy in these days of brilliant shows like Curb, The Office (UK and USA versions), and, of course, Extras.

This is an excellent end to the series. The only downside is the lack of any extras on the DVD. Fans of Gervais and Merchant will be used to watching various outtakes and tid-bits on their other DVD's, however there aren't any here.

I was very happy to be watching this series final for Extra's and felt that it delivered the kind of wrap up I was hoping for. There are lots of teeth grindingly difficult to watch bits - so as long as you have a cushion to hide behind you'll be fine. The special starts where the second series finished with our anti-hero, Gervais, still feeling hard done by regarding his successful TV show.

Gervais doesn't let up on himself here and his character moves through a steady downward spiral until his C grade status as a performer is fully realised on Celebrity Big Brother. The final scene in the BB house is worth the price of the entire DVD.

I won't go on and on, it's good. I don't think that it cops out and there is some very funny, and stinging stuff in there. Including an amusing cameo from George Michael.

Very funny! If you liked the original British version of "The Office" you'll love "Extras" as well. Ricky Gervais created and stars in both. You should see the first two dvd's of "Extras" first so you'll know what's going on. Gervais is a comic genius and you'll become a big fan.

The Extras series finale Christams Special is a more solemn occasion than most of the episodes in the series, however it it a fitting end to what is an excellent series.
You will find poignant moments of contemplation after what are some heartbreaking moments throughout. But, the comedy is still there with all its sharp wit, great cynicism and frivolity.
An outstanding mix of emotion ends what has been a wonderful, if not rocky, journey for all the chracters.
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant do not disappoint, yet again.

If you're a fan of the series this 2 hour wrapup episode will do a number on you. First, it is incredibly sad at points and you feel sorry for the characters that Andy is abusive towards as his sitcom stardom seemingly goes to his head and he forgets where he came from. Without trying to give too much away the show starts off on a rather sad trajectory as characters we've come to know and laugh with are saddened by his antics.

Regardless of the melancholy opening there are still some good bits and laughs including a funny cameo by George Michael poking fun at himself. In the end justice is served and friendship restored.

Extras is really brillant TV and I hope these folks can come up with another show that is as consistently funny.

Closer to a full length movie than another episode of a highly successful TV series, "Extras - The Special" is a funny, superbly acted and, in the end, genuinely thought provoking exploration of what TV fame is all about.

As in the two preceding series Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Ashley Jensen and the wonderful "Barry" are a brilliantly effective comic combination but, unlike many other "specials" which simply re-tread what's gone before, they take their roles and their stories to much deeper levels that provide real insights into how the successes & failures of what's served up on our TVs each night impact on those involved. Bitingly critical of the whole celebrity bandwagon and, probably, closer to the truth than we'd like to believe, the trick - which they pull-off wholly successfully - is to make us laugh at its excesses while making us question the sanity of what's going on in a business where "fame" has become an end in itself, where people will do anything to get it & keep it, and where broken dreams litter the floor.

And, as in the previous episodes but in this case even more pointedly, the celebrities they wheel in for their cameo turns seem oblivious to the self-parody of their roles - witness Lionel Blair's and George Michael's appearances which beg the question whether they're so desperate to get exposure in a high ratings show such as "Extras" that they're prepared to allow themselves to be degraded in this manner... which, of course, is exactly the point that Gervais & Merchant are making.

Black comedy doesn't get any better than this and, in addition to being a superb way to end an already excellent series, "The Special" is, on its own, a highly effective and very funny insight into people's aspirations & motivations in a very strange world that, thankfully or not, most of us will never experience.

This show says everything that needs to be said about Hollywood and reality TV.
Ricky Gervais is amazing and a visionary. He's hilarious and so is the rest of the cast.