movie world

Andy Millman gives up his day job to become an actor but finds that the lead roles elude him, so he instead has to settle for work as an 'extra' (background actor). During his time on set Millman has to work with stars such as Kate Winslet, Samuel L Jackson and Ben Stiller. The presence of such high-profile names has made Extras much more of an event than the usual BBC comedy.

In series two Andy Millman begins filming his sitcom ("When the Whistle Blows") and moves from background artist to TV face. Despite his burgeoning success, Andy is still surrounded by the usual cast of idiots: his hapless best friend Maggie, his incompetent agent Darren Lamb and Barry "off EastEnders". Before long Andy realises fame isn't quite as great as it looks.

The final special sees Andy Millman as a big star with a new, more efficient agent and a new house overlooking Hampstead Heath. Meanwhile, Maggie has been forced to move into an even smaller flat and is doing cleaning jobs to make ends meet. Sadly, Andy hasn't even noticed.

5 x DVD | NTSC 16:9 | 444 Minutes | 25.9 Gb + 3% rec
Language: English
Subtitles: English, Francais, Espanol
Genre: Comedy, Drama

Director: Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant
Cast: Ricky Gervais, Ashley Jensen, Stephen Merchant
Country: UK, USA

The Complete Series contains both of the full seasons (six episodes each), and the Extra Special Series Finale.

Extras:

Season One:

-- The Difficult Second Album - Behind The Scenes of Extras: In this illuminating documentary, Gervais and Merchant discuss the difficulty in following up a critically and commercially success like The Office. The pair focus more on the ideas behind the show, but are quick to point out any favorite moments or performances.

-- Deleted Scenes: Split up by episode, we don't get a lot of material, but some of it, including Andy trying to fool a Christian prayer group into thinking he's a devout Catholic, are absolutely priceless.

-- Outtakes. Probably the best part is when Gervais and Patrick Stewart are trying to do the scene where Stewart describes the content of his script. The two simply cannot get through a single take because they're continually cracking each other up.

-- Finding Leo: Merchant films Gervais' futile attempt to contact Leonardo DiCaprio to replace Jude Law after the latter drops out of an episode at the 11th hour.

Season Two:

-- Extras Backstage: This is more in-depth and specific than "The Difficult Second Album," and can be viewed in installments, one for each episode in the season. Gervais and Merchant talk about what it was like working with all of the celebrities, with special attention paid to David Bowie, who also gets interviewed and proves he's not above making fun of himself. In addition, we get some product placement for The Office and a few good bits between the two.

-- Taping Nigel - The Gimpening: This overly long documentary chronicles Gervais bizarre relationship with his editor, Nigel. Specifically, Gervais is fond of covering Nigel in as much tape as possible and putting him in embarrassing situations.

-- The Art of "Corpsing:" Corpsing is the production's term for being unable to finish a take due to intense laughter. Gervais is particularly good at this, which should come as no surprise to anyone.

-- Deleted Scenes: More deleted scenes.

-- Outtakes: A more well-rounded selection than what we got on season one, but by the end you will be intimately familiar with the way Gervais laughs.