Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais is best-known for co-writing, co-directing and above all starring as David Brent in the BBC sitcom series The Office - a masterpiece. Earlier in his career Gervais had appeared in The 11 O'Clock Show, and his own talk-comedy show, Meet Ricky Gervais. The 11 O'Clock Show was a brave attempt to blend current affairs with comedy and featured the excellent Iain Lee. In their different ways, both The 11 O'Clock Show and The Office crossed genres.

One of the beauties of The Office is the understated, tounge-in-cheek-way in which it made fun of the observational documentary style. In his early days Ricky Gervais had spent several years as an entertainments manager for a student union, and for a while managed Suede. He also tried stand-up comedy, which he says he found "just too hard". However 2004 saw him back on stage, with his show Politics. The Office was a hit both in terms of ratings and with the critics. Gervais won the Bafta award for best comedy performance for three years in a row, while The Office took two Golden Globes in Hollywood in January 2004, including Gervais winning 'Best Actor' for his role as David Brent - the first UK star to win a TV comedy acting prize at the US Golden Globe awards.