Gervais seeks Madge as "extra"

Comedian Ricky Gervais has revealed that he is in talks with Madonna's agent about getting the superstar singer and actress to appear in the next seri

17:24 29 August 2005

Comedian Ricky Gervais has revealed that he is in talks with Madonna's agent about getting the superstar singer and actress to appear in the next series of his TV show Extras.

The comic also revealed that he is also in discussions about the possible appearance of Hollywood hunk Brad Pitt in the second series of the BBC2 show, ITV reports.

A host of celebrities including Kate Winslet and Samuel L Jackson agreed to appear in the first series of the comedy about a wannabe actor who is forced to earn his living as a film extra.

But addressing an audience at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Gervais insisted that the regular characters in the show were just as important to the success of the comedy as the Hollywood stars who appear in it.

"The only reason we had the A-List stars was to add certain realism," he said.

"If we really were in film sets there would be these megastars hanging around, unless it was a British film."

Gervais, who found fame after co-writing and starring in the cult comedy show The Office, admitted that he sometimes found his own celebrity status difficult to deal with.

"Sometimes I get a bit phobic. Someone will look at me in a shop and I'll just have to walk away," he said.

The comic also joked that he once assumed that a Japanese couple had asked him to take a picture of them because they wanted him in it, only to find that they were just tourists wanting a snap of their holiday.