Ricky Gervais

Actress, writer and now, presenter: Ruth Jone, co-creator of Gavin & Stacey, hosts a light mix of chat, music and larks. It's going nationwide this Christmas after debuting in Wales last year. Music comes from indie-rock milquetoasts the Script, while places on the sofa are reserved for Ricky Gervais, Will Young and Miranda Hart.

There's no Gavin & Stacey this Christmas, but as a consolation we are offered up this new mix of chat, music and sketch comedy from the sitcom's co-creator Ruth Jones, aka Nessa. Her guests will include Ricky Gervais (without whom, it seems, no chat show is complete), Miranda Hart (of BBC Two's Miranda) and pop crooner Will Young.

Ricky Gervais muses on Steve Carell's Office exit

Ricky Gervais has insisted that NBC's The Office should not attempt to replace lead actor Steve Carell.

Ricky Gervais Golden Globes interview

Ricky Gervais admits that he was somewhat surprised when the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn asked him to headline January's Golden Globe ceremony after he drew mixed reviews for his hosting duties on the last broadcast.

Ricky Gervais signs up for Muppets cameo

Though the new, still-untitled Muppet movie already appears to be bursting at the seams with humans, more and more actors are jumping aboard. You can go ahead and add Ricky Gervais and Emily Blunt to that ever-expanding list.

Video: Gervais makes a surprise call to Karl Pilkington

An Idiot Abroad star Karl Pilkington was not best pleased when 5 Live's Richard Bacon and comedian Ricky Gervais made a surprise call on his day off.

Pilkington, in the midst of tiling his kitchen, demanded to know where the money from his comedy travel series had gone.

Stewart Francis: on touring

The deadpan Canadian comic talks about supporting Ricky Gervais on tour, the art of the one-liner and why he has no truck with Twitter.

Friday with Graham Norton better than Jonathan Ross

Friday Night With Graham Norton was a distinct improvement on the Jonathan Ross version. No sign of the Four Poofs or their Piano. No back-slapping with Ricky Gervais...

PhoneShop is an abysmal new sitcom written by Phil Bowker, a senior comedy executive. If nothing else, it gives budding comedy writers a window into Bowker's comic sensibilities, should they ever pitch a script to him. He evidently thinks shouting is a substitute for funny dialogue, and that swaggering, sub-Ali G patois is intrinsically hilarious.

Set in the ruthless environs of a high-street mobile phone retailer, it's stocked with irritating, unlikeable characters, one of whom exhibits the precise mannerisms of David Brent.

Ricky Gervais actually script-edited the pilot last year, but that's no reason for actor Tom Bennett to pay slavish tribute to him. It's a small mercy he isn't playing the needy, buffoonish boss character.

Woefully unfunny, charmless and inept, PhoneShop is the kind of comedy that dribbles contempt at its presumed audience of easily pleased young adults. Please, resist it in droves.

When a new sitcom gets a big tick from comedy aristocrats like Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, you approach it with enormous expectations. And while PhoneShop includes some sharp lines and clever ideas, it's also irritating, which blurs out much of the good stuff. Double act Ashley (Andrew Brooke) and Jerwayne (Javone Prince) both talk like Ali G, but have nothing especially funny to say. Their schtick is to bully the freshly recruited, drippy salesman, Christopher (Tom Bennett), who they call Newman. This quickly gets boring but their dynamic never evolves beyond lions-picking-on-an-antelope. If you can be bothered it might be worth one more look but at best this series opener feels like an ill-cast early draft.