The Last Extras

Caught this last night. It's a pretty good end to a brilliant show, featuring a great performance from Ricky Gervais - who closes with as impressive a scene as the closing scene at the end of series 2 of The Office. Cameos from George Michael and Clive Owen are enjoyable. Owen actually channels Gervais a little bit in his biggest scene and it's great. It's also wonderful to see Simon Pye return as Greg - truly the most consistently funny supporting character in the show.

However the christmas special is not played purely for laughs. There's some substance to this and Gervais' diatribe about the public obsession with celebrity suggests he may well be capable of something significant in a dramatic role at some point in the future.

In the end though, the special is once again about friendship, and although I feel the plot is a complete rehash of season 2 episode 6, in which Gervais lets fame go to his head, treats his friends (well, friend) badly, and then belatedly realises the error of his ways, it's done well enough to make it well worth watching.

It also features an absolutely kick-ass song from Kate Bush, which may well be the best thing in it, but that's not to say the rest is anything less than very very good.