British Comedy Guide

Extras Christmas Special Page 4

Quote: Tim Faithfull @ December 27, 2007, 11:44 PM

One last thing, does anyone know the name of that very sad song that was played in the background to some of the scenes with Maggie? Very nice touch that was!

One of them was "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" by The Smiths. Not sure that's the one you're after, though.

Quote: Leevil @ December 27, 2007, 11:29 PM

Here's your zooo shield.

Laughing out loud Can't be arsed.

That bit of music is by Kate Bush, I think. It's on a quite annoying advert, but aside from that is quite affecting.

The song was 'This Womans Work' by Kate Bush. A truely beautiful song, but it seemed somewhat out of place.

Just finished watching it and thought it was a terrific way to close out the series.

I suppose it was really a collection of what Gervais says in interviews about fame etc but it was enjoyable nevertheless. Actually thought the highlight was when Darren, straight-faced, was reeling off the names kids call him. I can imagine it's very close to the truth but he's used it in a posiive way in his comedy.

Thanks guys, yeh it's a lovely song indeed. I'll go and download it now!

Quote: Martin Holmes @ December 27, 2007, 11:32 PM

...for an hour and a half show that pushes it into comedy-drama category.

I'm assuming you're just writing a bit ambiguously here, but you're not really suggesting that the length of a programme denotes its genre, are you?

Quote: zooo @ December 27, 2007, 11:49 PM

It's on a quite annoying advert...

Yes. One of those Africa ones, no doubt.

Brilliant stuff.
I liked the digs at the (Little Britains & Tate's of this world) Although I was a fan of those myself until they got boring!
Jensen was as good as always.
You wll always see Brent in him though because I am a firm believer in that being his real face. Brents expresions are RG.
Anyhoo, it was very very good. Well written, well acted & well done.
Thumbs up to RG & SM.

Quote: Aaron @ December 28, 2007, 12:47 AM

Yes. One of those Africa ones, no doubt.

The advert was an NSPCC fundraising campaign in 2005.

It was good, but I did find Ricky's constant lambasting of other comedy styles a little tedious and rather supercilious. His point was being hammered home just a tad too heavily.
I freely admit, I am not a fan of Little Britain or Catherine Tate, but an awful lot of people are. (And I'm not saying that the mass is always right, just making a point)

Besides that little annoyance half way through the episode, I thought the rest was touching and entertaining. Ashley Jensen was, as usual, beautifully understated.
I was watching the finale on Christmas day having got it from the states and I can't deny it did depress me somewhat, but if a show can do that and make its audience think, it's a success.

So don't think I'm one of those 'Ricky-haters', I just wasn't fond of his pretentious snobbery (for want of a better term).

Yeah he did hammer home his hatred of certain comedies a bit too much.

Do you think there was more of a dark/poignant edge in this to reflect the sort of acting that Andy wanted?

I laughed quite a few times, but ultimately thought it was a little weak. Andy escaping from the press conference didn't exactly have the same effect as David Brent telling Finch to "F**k off".

I missed it last night.

It's repeated on sunday 30th on BBC2.

I hadn't seen Extras before, but I thought the special was great, way above the level of other comedies of the moment. A mix of humour, semi-autobiographical bits and a couple of absolutely killer jokes. Nice to see him biting the hand that feeds him, celebrity and BB-wise.

Everyone, including ricky himself, seems to have forgotten about his appearance on that Celebrity Boxing thing.

Wow, what a great response, almost 100% positive, and not just positive, glowing reviews - how rare is that!

I've not had a chance to watch it yet but very much looking forward to seeing it now.

Quote: Bad dog @ December 28, 2007, 2:27 PM

I hadn't seen Extras before, but I thought the special was great, way above the level of other comedies of the moment.

Really interested to hear that Bad Dog - thanks for posting. Interesting that someone can come into the final fresh and still love it. You'll obviously have to watch the previous series now to see how Andy has morphed from being just that background extra (or 'background artist' as they like to be called).

Quote: Aaron @ December 28, 2007, 12:47 AM

I'm assuming you're just writing a bit ambiguously here, but you're not really suggesting that the length of a programme denotes its genre, are you?

To an extent I'd agree. I don't want to take this off-topic though so check out the long discussion here: https://www.comedy.co.uk/forums/thread/4142

Quote: catskillz @ December 28, 2007, 2:31 PM

Everyone, including ricky himself, seems to have forgotten about his appearance on that Celebrity Boxing thing.

He had already expressed an interest in doing some sort of boxing before he took part in that, and it was for charity so its not terrible.

I thought it was fantastic. Regardless of what you want to call it, whether you say its a sitcom, a comedy drama, whatever, it was brilliant. What I want from a TV programme is something that will keep me hooked, entertained and amused and it did all three of those. His rant was superb and so representative of modern society. If you say it wasn't funny enough or enough jokes to be a sitcom, fine - don't call it a sitcom, just call it a bloody good TV programme because that is what it was without a doubt.

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