Ricky Gervais: 'I did not attack Little Britain!'

I hear comedy actor Ricky Gervais' PR is phoning media hacks sweetly asking them not to repeat the suggestion that her client ever criticised or attacked Little Britain duo Matt Lucas and David Walliams. Recent reports have suggested that he did.

I must have imagined then that talented Ricky mocked Little Britain in the Extras episode that featured Orlando Bloom. Gervais's character, Andy Millman, sells a sitcom to the BBC but producers force him to drop the script's social observation in favour of catchphrases repeated over and over again. A studio audience wearing T-shirts with the slogans "I'm a lady" [that being a Little Britain joke] and Catherine Tate's "Bovvered?" had a laugh.

The Mail reported Gervais as saying he wanted to have a dig at shows that relied on catchphrases. "People think it's maybe a shortcut - it's chasing ratings, trying to look for a hook. It's not what we do but we're not angry with people that do use catchphrases."

Well, Gervais is not wrong.