Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

grantss Andy Millman and his friend Maggie Jacobs are professional actors but haven't quite made the big time. They spend their time as extras, the background actors in TV series and movies who hardly get a line of dialogue. They have plans to make it big but nothing works out. They do get to meet a host of stars though...Wonderfully funny. Created and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the pair who gave us the brilliant The Office. While The Office was very self-deprecating in the way the main character was portrayed, here it is major film and TV stars who get the treatment. The script doesn't hold back in maligning the stars and they seem quite comfortable in playing along. Very funny.There's a fair degree of pathos, especially in Andy and Maggie's attempts to lift themselves out of the rut they're in, and the relationship issues that ensue when one of them does.Great work by Ricky Gervais and Ashley Jensen in the lead roles. Stephen Merchant provides the best laughs, as Andy's inept agent, Darren Lamb.

studioAT In the same way that in anything Rowan Atkinson does he gets called 'Mr Bean' in anything Ricky Gervais does he'll get called 'David Brent'.That's the reason that 'Extras', though successful, never quite lived up to the hype of 'The Office'.It's not for the want of trying. Celebs from both sides of the globe clearly were queuing up to appear in guest roles, from the great and the good.But that doesn't make it a good show. It's lewd, it's crass in it's humour at times, and I didn't find it half as engaging as 'The Office'.David Brent as an actor basically.

SnoopyStyle Andy Millman (Ricky Gervais) is a movie extra with unrealistic ambitions. Maggie Jacobs (Ashley Jensen) is his only friend. Darren Lamb (Stephen Merchant) is his incompetent agent.Ricky Gervais has found the perfect platform to use big stars to make fun of themselves. As a movie extra, Andy encounters all sorts of A-lists celebrities. It is a safe way for these A-listers to do one episode where they are their own alter-egos. Ricky can be mean-spirited and get made fun of as a fat little man. Only 13 episodes were made. Ricky should restart this show. I know most of the times these things don't happen, but there's always hope.

Lee Eisenberg Following up from "The Office", Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant have created another great show. "Extras" casts Gervais as Andy Millman, a supporting actor always having to be in the presence of temperamental movie stars (who play themselves). Eventually, Andy gets a role on a TV show as a dorky boss with a catchphrase.The setup is much the same as "The Office": it's made to look cinema verite, while the characters get into embarrassing situations with each other. Granted, Andy Millman is a little different from David Brent: David had nothing to do and so he deliberately made inappropriate comments; Andy hopes to make it big, and often claims that he already has.Probably the show's most impressive aspect is how the movie stars playing themselves portray themselves as pathetic individuals. For example, Kate Winslet stars in a movie about the Holocaust because she knows that people who star in movies about the Holocaust always win Oscars; Daniel Radcliffe, meanwhile, will do anything to get laid. Ben Stiller, Ian McKellen and Orlando Bloom also appear. Seriously, how many people would be willing to depict themselves on screen as worthless human beings? All in all, this is a great show. I hope that Ricky Gervais continues with this sort of work. A true masterpiece.