No Shortcuts Made As Ricky Gervais Renews Travel Show
Ricky Gervais has confirmed that a spin-off series of hit travel-based documentary series An Idiot Abroad will return in spin-off form, as he reveals that he has managed to get Karl Pilkington, the reluctant star of the reality series, to film The Short Way Round alongside English actor Warwick Davis.
Keeping in line with his generally controversial and politically-incorrect mannerisms, Gervais has announced the format of the show to be Pilkington cycling to destinations around the world while 1.07m-tall Davis, most notable for acting roles as elves, goblins, leprechauns, and Yoda (motion capture), amongst others, will sit in the front of the bicycle in a basket, with discussions between the pair said to be able to provide an extra element to the format.
Speaking at a BAFTA-endorsed screening of Channel 4 pilot comedy series Derek, marked as Pilkington’s first notable appearance in acting, Gervais claimed that his friend and co-worker is set to take on a third series of travelling, having already been the focus of two seasons of fronting the ‘alternative’ travel programme An Idiot Abroad, where much of the appeal came from the fact that he was ‘out of his comfort zone’ (England) compared with other travellers, and performing surprise tasks set up by Gervais and Steven Merchant.
Gervais said of the agreement: “I can persuade him. I try lots of things and eventually I can see he’s interested with something I’ve said and I work on that… He’s finally signed a contract for The Short Way Round, cycling round the world with a dwarf in his basket. When I told him that idea, he didn’t say ‘That’s ridiculous’, he said ‘So I’m doing all the f**king peddling?’ That was his first problem with the idea. He was worried about it and he signed the contract this week, so he can’t back out now. He’s in too deep.”
Meanwhile, he also confirmed that BBC2 sitcom Life’s Too Short (which stars Davis as a fictionalised version of himself), will return with a second series in this time next year, while also filming for what is most likely to be a one-off ‘Christmas specia’ episode, stating: “We’ve just started writing this week a special of Life’s Too Short, which is at the moment turning into a spinoff series with Les Dennis, Barry from EastEnders (Shaun Williamson) and Cheggers (Keith Chegwin). I couldn’t resist it.”
The new show would most likely build on a relationship between Gervais’ two friends first seen on a bonus feature for his own stand-up comedy DVD Science, promoting each-other’s books, as well as a segment near the end of an episode of An Idiot Abroad (a phone call made from Kunming ‘dwarf village’ (China)), all of which can be seen below:
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