Extras: Season 1

2005 · 6 episodes · ★ 7.7

What Season 1 of Extras

Andy Millman is an aspiring actor who only lands work as an extra, though he prefers to call himself a background artist. His best friend, Maggie Jacobs, shares the shoots with him. She is well-meaning but scatterbrained, and often doesn't think before she speaks. Fed up with getting cut just as he appears on camera, Andy shamelessly sucks up to celebrities and producers to win a few seconds on screen or a line. He almost always pulls it off, but some setback always stalls his career: a star admits they can't help him, or Andy accidentally offends an actor and gets fired. The shoots take them to films with Ben Stiller, Kate Winslet or Samuel L. Jackson, and to a pantomime with Les Dennis.

6episodes

Jul 21, 2005premiered

Aug 25, 2005final episode

3.1 hrtotal runtime

Season 1 Episodes

1x01 Ben Stiller
Jul 21, 2005 · 31 min · ★ 7.8
Andy and Maggie are both extras in a serious genocide movie being shot by Ben Stiller in England; however, Andy isn't satisfied with his minuscule role, and so goes to the genocide witness Goran to try and get him a bigger part.
Directing: Stephen Merchant, Ricky Gervais · Writing: Stephen Merchant, Ricky Gervais · Starring: Eleanor Matsuura, Ben Stiller, Liza Sadovy, Boris Boscovic
1x02 Ross Kemp and Vinnie Jones
Jul 28, 2005 · 31 min · ★ 8.0
Again Andy and Maggie are both extras on the same production, this time it's a period drama starring "hard-man" British actor Ross Kemp, who likes to play up to his tough persona. Another tough-guy actor, Vinnie Jones, is filming something nearby. When Andy brags to his rival, Greg, who's an extra on Jones' set, that Kemp could beat up Jones, the rivalry switches hands from the extras to the actors.
Directing: Stephen Merchant, Ricky Gervais · Writing: Stephen Merchant, Ricky Gervais · Starring: Katherine Parkinson, Vinnie Jones, Ross Kemp, Peter Sullivan
1x03 Kate Winslet
Aug 4, 2005 · 31 min · ★ 8.6
Andy and Maggie work on a Holocaust film that stars Kate Winslet.
Directing: Stephen Merchant, Ricky Gervais · Writing: Stephen Merchant, Ricky Gervais · Starring: Kate Winslet, Francesca Martinez, Charlotte Palmer, Kevin Moore
1x04 Les Dennis
Aug 11, 2005 · 31 min · ★ 6.3
Andy gets a role in a pantomime, starring opposite British TV presenter Les Dennis. As Dennis begins to approach a breakdown, Maggie gets to know the pantomime director's daughter, who appears to have had her life greatly warped by her parents.
Directing: Stephen Merchant, Ricky Gervais · Writing: Stephen Merchant, Ricky Gervais · Starring: Les Dennis, Rebecca Gethings, Gerard Kelly, Nicky Ladanowski
1x05 Samuel L. Jackson
Aug 18, 2005 · 31 min · ★ 8.1
Andy and Maggie are this time working on an action movie starring Samuel L Jackson. Andy finds himself cornered into a friendship with an incredibly over-friendly middle-aged Welshman also working on the set. Maggie finds herself attracted to black actor Danny on set, but isn't sure how to talk to him because of his race.
Directing: Stephen Merchant, Ricky Gervais · Writing: Stephen Merchant, Ricky Gervais · Starring: Patrick Malahide, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Wildman, Steve Speirs
1x06 Patrick Stewart Season Finale
Aug 25, 2005 · 31 min · ★ 7.4
As Andy's useless agent still hasn't managed to get him any work, he takes it upon himself to get his sitcom script read by somebody. He manages to get it to Patrick Stewart, who passes it onto the BBC, who decide to develop it. However, Andy finds himself stuck developing the script with a nearly unbearably camp man, a problem he shares with Maggie, who unwittingly repeats it to Andy's colleague later on, possibly jeopardizing Andy's chances of getting his sitcom made.
Directing: Stephen Merchant, Ricky Gervais · Writing: Stephen Merchant, Ricky Gervais · Starring: Patrick Stewart, Guy Henry, Martin Savage, Michelle Terry