The BBC has announced a special filmed reunion between The Office co-stars to celebrate the sitcom’s 25 anniversary, but creator and star Ricky Gervais won’t be there
The Office star Ricky Gervais as David Brent(Image: BBC)
Ricky Gervais has addressed the real reason he won’t be at the BBC’s reunion of The Office, as he announced his own anniversary celebration.
The Office turns 25 this year, and to mark the occasion, the BBC are putting on a special episode of Remembers, which will star Martin Freeman, who played Tim, and Mackenzie Crook, who played Gareth. The two will look back at the show and share anecdotes about what happened backstage.
Ricky, who created the show alongside Stephen Merchant and played ‘boss from hell’ David Brent, will not be there. He has decided to film his own documentary the mark the anniversary, which will air on his Youtube channel.
A representative for Ricky told The Independent that the star simple “was not available” to take part in the BBC’s show but was still in contact with the broadcaster “all the time” about his beloved sitcom. They emphasised that there was “no rift” between Ricky and the BBC.
The full plans for Ricky’s celebration documentary has not been revealed, but the star has told fans when it will be available. He told the audience of one of his weekly livestreams that the film would hit his Youtube channel on the 9 July, the exact anniversary of the Office’s first episode.
His representative added that it would be “an affectional look back on this big anniversary”. Like Ricky, his co-creator Stephen Merchant will not be in the BBC’s documentary, which will air on BBC Two on 8 July.
After working together on The Office, Ricky and Stephen made a few other shows for the BBC, including Afterlife and Extras. But since then, Ricky has made comedies for other broadcasters, including Channel 4, which was the home for Derek, and Alley Cats, an animation made for Netflix.
In 2019, Ricky made it clear that he was “still a fan” of the BBC, but said that he wished the company would be “braver”. He told GQ: “I wish it wouldn’t bow down to pressure from media or from one complaint.
“That has got worse, and the days are gone when people say, ‘We’re leaving it as it is’. Commissioning editors are scared of being fired.”
These comments came just after the BBC decided to retrospectively add content warnings for discriminatory language on some episodes of The Office that were available on BBC iPlayer.
Though Ricky won’t be in the BBC’s coverage of The Office’s 25th anniversary, he will still be mentioned. The anecdotes Martin Freeman and Mackenzie Crook will dive into include how Ricky came close to “ruining” filming every day with his jokes.
They will also dive into Martin’s audition, which was initially for Gareth, and what it was like to be “at the heart of Office-mania when the show was at its peak”, before moving on to the American version and their favourite moments from the UK’s two series.
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