Ricky Gervais has denied that he’s fallen out with writing partners Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington.

Gervais co-created The Office and Extras with Merchant, while Pilkington rose to fame on The Ricky Gervais Show.

Asked by NME about fan speculation that he was no longer friends with the pair, Gervais said: “I purposely don’t answer [the rumours] because it annoys them.”


He added: “But no no no, I haven’t, I’ve always been doing my own thing, and now they are as well. It’s not a divorce thing.”

On whether he would get Pilkington in a divorce from Merchant, Gervais quipped: “Oh, I would. In a little cupboard.”

Gervais also revealed that we’ve seen the last of David Brent in his new NME interview.

Quizzed on whether Life On The Road would be the last outing for Brent, Gervais told NME: “I think so. I think Brent at 60 being a tampon rep, still trying to be a pop star might just be too much.”

Discussing the worldwide success of The Office, Gervais admitted that it surprises him to some degree.


“The success surprises me, obviously, but in retrospect I sort of know why it worked,” he said, “because the themes were universal: boy meets girl, bad boss trying to make a difference. It was a show about fame and comedy, too. I watched a lot of those docusoups of the 1990s where a ordinary person would get their 15 minutes.”