The Ricky Gervais phenomenon couldn't have happened without him, and now he's brought his unique brand of drollery to the big screen

Ricky Gervais has revealed he was moved to lose weight after gorging himself on 11 sausages in one sitting.

Notting Hill for carnival, Cameron, and now, Carmelite nuns

Ricky Gervais to appear opposite Steve Carell as Slough's finest comes face-to-face with his American alter ego

With new films from old masters Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, fresh comedy talents behind the camera and two Roman epics in the pipeline, these are exciting times for homegrown movies. Geoffrey Macnab looks ahead

More than eight years after The Office changed British comedy forever, Ricky Gervais has helped create a new television sitcom that finds its laughs in the drudgery and absurdities of another unglamorous workplace.

The Monty Python stars are to be honoured with a special award from the British Academy of Film and Television (Bafta) to mark their contribution to comedy over 40 years, it emerged today.

View From The Sofa: Building The Olympic Dream: London Calling, BBC 2, Wednesday

Channel 4's caustic new comedy series follows the tumultuous work and love lives of three showbiz agents. Gerard Gilbert meets the show's cast-iron talent

You can take the boy out of Slough ...but you can't put him in a shiny New York screwball comedy. Ricky, you should have a word with your agent

In his first starring film role, Ricky Gervais plays an obnoxious loser seeking redemption. Sound familiar? He talks to Gaynor Flynn

It is not the usual stuff of celluloid blockbusters – a quirky "dramedy" about two twenty-somethings in the 1970s who work as building society clerks in the dull suburban surrounds of Reading. Then again, nobody thought that about a comedy set in an office in Slough either.

Charity gigs are often ramshackle affairs and this show, in aid of children's charity NCH, was no exception. Jessica Hynes (formerly Stevenson) put the Daisy into lackadaisical, exhibiting all the neurotic characteristics of the role that made her famous in the sitcom Spaced, but to no great effect.