Extras

Andy Millman is an aspiring actor who only finds work as an extra, a job he prefers to call "background artist" to give it more dignity. In his projects he is joined by Maggie Jacobs, his best friend and fellow extra, who is well-meaning but a bit scatterbrained and doesn't always pick up on social cues or think before she speaks. Fed up with being cut from scenes just as he manages to appear on camera, Andy shamelessly flatters celebrities and producers to win a few seconds on screen or a line of dialogue. He often succeeds, but some setback always stalls his career: a star admits they have no power to help him or, more often, Andy accidentally offends the actor and gets fired on the spot. The series, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, airs on BBC Two and HBO, and both of them star in it.