British Comedy Guide
After Life. Tony (Ricky Gervais). Copyright: Derek Productions
After Life

After Life

  • TV sitcom
  • Netflix
  • 2019 - 2022
  • 18 episodes (3 series)

Ricky Gervais sitcom about a man struggling to cope after his wife's death. Also features Kerry Godliman, Tom Basden, Tony Way, Diane Morgan, Ashley Jensen and more.

  • JustWatch Streaming rank this week: 592

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Press clippings Page 10

Ricky Gervais has finished first draft of After Life 2

Ricky Gervais has revealed he's already finished the first draft for the second series of his hit Netflix show After Life.

Dan Cain, The Sun, 6th May 2019

Netflix confirms Series 2 of Ricky Gervais sitcom After Life

After Life, the Netflix sitcom created by Ricky Gervais, is to return for a second series in 2020.

British Comedy Guide, 3rd April 2019

After Life swells Gervais's coffers by £3.2million

Ricky Gervais boosted his company's earnings by more than £3million in the last year alone, it has been revealed.

Amie Gordon, Daily Mail, 25th March 2019

Gervais proves there is life after The Office

His new show, After Life, divides opinion, except in my household.

Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian, 23rd March 2019

Ricky Gervais interview

Ricky Gervais says 'getting fat, old and ugly' helped launch comedy career.

Eve Wagstaff, The Sun, 22nd March 2019

After Life review

After Life is the best thing Gervais has made since Extras.

Frame Rated, 20th March 2019

Ricky Gervais interview

Ricky Gervais on provocation, picking targets and outrage culture.

David Marchese, The New York Times, 19th March 2019

Ricky Gervais interview

Bleakly funny, pushing boundaries, confronting taboos - we meet the man behind so many comedic creations.

Saga Magazine, 18th March 2019

After Life is the latest offering from Ricky Gervais, where he plays widower Tony, a man corroded by grief (staying alive only to feed his dog) who decides to be as obnoxious as he likes and then kill himself, behaviour that he thinks is "like a superpower."

The cast includes Penelope Wilton as a widow, Diane Morgan as Tony's gobby co-worker, and Paul Kaye as a self-satisfied therapist. Apart from videos left by Tony's late wife (a touching Kerry Godliman), the heart is mainly provided by Ashley Jensen as a care-home worker looking after Tony's dad (David Bradley), and Mandeep Dhillon's rookie journalist at the local newspaper where Tony works.

The problem is the wildly swerving tone - from obnoxious to sentimental to caustic to maudlin to pointlessly vile. At one point Tony helps a junkie (Tim Plester) buy enough drugs to kill himself. Ho and ho. This just won't cut it as edgy comedy in the era of Succession, Russian Doll and so much more. After Life worked better during the running joke featuring Tony covering hopeless local stories, such as a boy playing recorders with his nostrils: "Why would people rather be famous for being shit than not famous at all?" This is Gervais's true superpower - as a carping, eye-rolling everyman.

Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 17th March 2019

TV review: After Life

Ricky Gervais has completely shaken up our perceptions of what he is capable of with his latest series After Life, showing how this comic can do heart-breaking as well as hilarious.

Becca Moody, Moody Comedy, 17th March 2019

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