Extras

So did you catch the "Extras" Christmas special last night?

Excellent, wasn't it?

Extras has never at any point been as funny as The Office. In terms of laughs, series one was the best. Series two was a little disappointing. It had its funny moments, but Gervais and Merchant lowered their standards somewhat, producing a series of pretty unrealistic, somewhat unlikely situations and reducing the character of Maggie to someone whose only purpose was to say the wrong thing at the wrong time and get Andy in trouble. And this after she was supposed to have grown up at the end of series one.

The special was really more drama than comedy, with high emotional stakes, but there were some funny moments - and the drama was excellently written and acted. And at the end of it all, there was a real message there. Andy's climactic speech on the nature of celebrity and the media was brilliantly written and acted by Ricky Gervais - I actually found myself getting quite emotional as he was speaking it! Those who put Gervais down should check out his acting here, as well as in the final scene of the second series of The Office in which a tearful David Brent begs not to be made redundant.

Overall, Extras has never reached the heights of The Office at its best - but what else has? Series one was the funniest, series two was the weakest - and the special was the most dramatic work Gervais and Merchant have done to date. No one should doubt their abilities as heavyweight television writers. Five stars.