Extras is a British television sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant about extras working on film sets and in theatre, charting the lives of Andy Millman, his friend Maggie Jacobs and Andy's substandard agent and ex-Carphone Warehouse employee Darren Lamb, as Millman rises to fame.
The series is co-produced by the BBC and HBO. It is written and directed by Gervais and Merchant.
Extras has two seasons of six episodes each, as well as a Christmas Special. The first episode aired in the UK on 21 July 2005 on BBC Two and on 25 September 2005 on HBO in the US.
The second season premiered in the UK on BBC Two on 14 September 2006 and began airing in the US on HBO and in Australia on ABC on 14 February 2007. The Christmas Special aired on 27 December 2007 on BBC Two and on 16 December 2007 on HBO.
Extras originally premiered in South Africa on DStv's BBC Prime (now BBC Entertainment) channel on Tuesday 3 April 2007, at 21h00.
Season 2 premiered on BBC Entertainment on Monday 8 September 2008, at 20h00. There are six half-hour episodes in the second season.
Season 2 Repeats
Tuesdays: 01h00
Season 1 Synopsis
Bitter, grumpy, sarcastic actor Andy Millman gave up his day job in the hope of achieving fame and fortune. So far he's yet to land a speaking part, let alone saunter down the red carpet to pick up a BAFTA.
He remains optimistic however, as rubbing shoulders with the A-list on-set only serves to reinforce his belief that the big time is just a job or two away.
If only his agent wasn't so stupendously useless...
He and best friend Maggie, also a bit-part actor of little repute, can usually be found in the green room, swigging coffee, bitching about their peers or whinging about their lot in life.
Andy and Maggie begin as extras — "supporting artists". Andy, who believes himself to be a "proper" actor, despite never having a speaking role in a production, is discontent with just appearing in the background and often being cut out of programmes altogether.
His agent, Darren Lamb (whose only other client is "Barry off Eastenders"), is unable to attain any substantial or suitable roles for Andy and, although morally well-guided, is terrible at his job.
Eventually, determined to produce a sitcom, Andy writes a pilot script for When the Whistle Blows — a show centred around factory workers in Wigan.
Andy's agent fails to draw attention to the script but, while working as an extra on set with Patrick Stewart, Andy gives the script to Stewart who eventually passes it on to the BBC.
Season 2 Synopsis
The BBC takes an interest in the script and decides to film a pilot with a view to making a series.
However, when the BBC starts production of the show, Andy is forced to wear a black curly wig, stereotypical large framed red glasses and make the show broad and catchphrase-based ("Are you havin' a laugh? Is he havin' a laugh?").
Although Andy loses considerable artistic control and the respect of his peers, he continues writing and performing in the show because his only other alternative is to go back to life as an extra.
The show is broadcast on BBC One, despite Andy's wish that it be broadcast to a BBC Two audience. The show attracts six million viewers but Andy believes them to be "the wrong six million".
Meanwhile, Andy learns the pitfalls of being a national celebrity, including how misunderstandings can blow up into national scandals.
Christmas Special
Andy wants dignity and respect as well as fame but working on the sitcom is selling out on this dream and the only way to recover, according to Andy, is to perform in more dignified roles — preferably a Hollywood film.
As Darren Lamb is unable to acquire any decent parts, Andy fires him and hires a new dynamic agent, Tre Cooper.
During this time, Maggie observes how Andy becomes more hostile and egomaniacal because of his fame to the point where he even asks Maggie, his closest friend, to stop approaching him on set because of the image of superiority he wants to project to the other extras.
Maggie, discontent with the treatment meted out to her as an extra on a big film, quits and, as a consequence of her reduced income, moves into a small one-roomed flat.
She feels that she has accomplished nothing with her life — stating that she has never even traveled abroad — and Andy refuses to listen to her about it, as he only cares about his profile and his fame.
With a new agent, Andy quits filming the now repetitive and degenerative sitcom in the hope that he will be successful and respected. After five months, however, Tre has only offered Millman roles which are as broad as the show that he left and the BBC are reluctant to work with him after his abrupt and public departure from the sitcom.
Andy grudgingly takes these roles in order to keep his profile up but eventually confronts his new agent and complains about the tired and shoddy roles that he wanted to stay away from to begin with.
Tre is angered by this and offers Andy the choice of either fame and fortune or integrity stating that "very few people have both".
Yet again, Millman is forced to take the offer of fame because the alternative would be a return to his previous discontenting lifestyle. With this, Tre forces Millman into the Celebrity Big Brother house.
Millman had previously rejected the idea when it was proposed by Darren Lamb, who has now returned to working at the Carphone Warehouse (alongside Barry and Dean Gaffney).
The housemates are hardly celebrities (they include a glamour model who got her big break when her boyfriend was accused of rape, and the mother of a murder victim) and their narcissistic actions make Millman reflect on what he was doing with his life.
This provokes Andy to give a speech to the cameras of the house in which he describes fame, as it stands today, as an easy way for cowards to sell their dignity and respect to avoid an honourable job such as a doctor or war hero; he comments that shows such as X Factor and Big Brother are just reincarnations of the Victorian freak show.
He apologises sincerely to his friend Maggie for his maltreatment of her and then, tearfully and abruptly, gets out of the house.
Tre greets him and states that interest in him has skyrocketed: "The world is your oyster".
Andy, instead of greeting the photographers, walks out of the back exit to discover Maggie waiting for him. They drive off together discussing going to some place where they won't be recognised.
Andy has rejected fame and fortune in the hope that he will lead a happier, fulfilling and dignified life with his friend Maggie.