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LONDON – Ricky Gervais said his comic creation David Brent, who bossed breakthrough BBC sitcom The Office, is the subject of interest from both the BBC and Netflix for a return to the small screen.
Gervais told the U.K.’s Radio Times magazine that both the public broadcaster and the online subscription giant have expressed a desire to work out a spinoff.
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The comedian, who co-created and co-wrote The Office with Stephen Merchant, resurrected the character 10 years after the original program went off the air for Britain’s Comic Relief charity show in 2013, and for the subsequent launch of Gervais’ own YouTube channel.
The character is currently touring U.K. concert venues with his fictional band, Foregone Conclusion, and is at the center of a social media maelstrom of speculation that he may rock up and rock out at Glastonbury music festival later this year.
“It could happen,” Gervais told the Radio Times.
“It would be amazing for Ricky Gervais, but I don’t know if I can justify it. He can’t play venues outside the story.”
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Brent’s story is one of disappointment, failure and self-delusion, so playing Glastonbury would certainly mean that as a musician he had achieved more than the character ever would or should.
Gervais said that he was bitten by the Brent bug again after bringing him back for Comic Relief.
“I love David Brent, but I can’t just do it as a vanity project, because the BBC and Netflix are up for it,” he said. “I don’t know whether to do an on-the-road special or make that the whole series.”
Gervais signed off from the British version of The Office with a pair of Christmas specials on BBC1 11 years ago.
Neither BBC nor Netflix immediately commented on Gervais’ remarks.
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