Life's Too Short

Gervais: Life's Too Short is satirical not exploitative

Ricky Gervais has defended Life's Too Short- which he wrote with Stephen Merchant - against critics who claim that the series exploits leading man Warwick Davis.

If you think this series has been iffy so far, you're advised to tune in tonight, if only to have your worst fears confirmed. As Warwick copes with divorce negotiations with only his accountant for representation and checks out a new flat with his idiot PA, we're subjected to a relentless volley of little-person gags that leave us, like the estate agent, looking on with unsmiling, dumbfounded horror. How on earth was this ever waved through? What happened to Gervais? As ever, redemption comes briefly in the form of the celebrity insert - this week, it's Steve Carell.

'Life's Too Short' HBO airdate confirmed

HBO have confirmed the official start date for the latest Ricky Gervais sitcom Life's Too Short.

Life's Too Short review

The series has attracted substantial opprobrium, some of it aimed in an unfairly personal way at Gervais, who has reacted by misconceiving all critique as being based on envy. But there is a basic problem with the show, which is that even if you don't find its content degrading, it is simply shoddily derivative.

Life's Too Short with Helena Bonham-Carter disappointed

Life's Too Short saw Helena Bonham-Carter join Warwick Davis, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, but the cracks are starting to widen in this underwhelming series.

Life's Too Short, 1.3 - episode 3

On the one hand, I preferred this episode to the previous two because it was more focused on Warwick Davies and, for the first time, actually felt like a sitcom about his showbiz life. On the other hand, this was easily the least funny episode yet, capped by a woefully unfunny cameo from Helena Bonham Carter - continuing the running "joke" that most people, especially famous people, sneer down their noses at dwarfs.

Although it doesn't quite reach the heights of either The Office or Extras, this new mockumentary series from Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant does have its moments. In tonight's third episode, Warwick Davis, the show's star (who, in case you missed the pun, is a famous actor who also happens to be a dwarf) launches his new website, which does rather less well than he was hoping.

Warwick is facing more blows to his self-esteem: he's cut out of a BBC current affairs interview, finds his Dwarves For Hire clients are mutinying, then discovers his website is under attack from a 16-year-old schoolboy, whom he attempts to confront, with devastating consequences. Warwick lands some work as a stand-in, but Helena Bonham Carter demands he be replaced in his scene by a bin with a face painted on it.

Life's Too Short couldn't even be saved by Johnny Depp

It's easy, but fair, to compare Gervais' latest series to The Office and Extras and unfortunately Life's Too Short just doesn't stand up to the comparison.