History Series / Extras

* TheDanza: Parodied. Keith Chegwin's character in his guest appearance on ''When the Whistle Blows'' is renamed when he has trouble responding to Alfie, the character's original name.

* RealSongThemeTune: Cat Stevens's "Tea for the Tillerman" brings every episode to a close.

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Pretty much every celebrity is a lot nicer than the bastard versions of themselves they play here.

* AdamWesting: Pretty much the sole purpose for any high profile guest star.
** Special mention has to go to Shaun "Barry off ''Series/EastEnders''" Williamson AsHimself, Darren's only client besides Andy, whose entire character is based on the idea that [[IAmNotSpock he's only recognizable as his character from the show]] (he answers to "Barry" more often than his own name) and has accepted that he'll probably never get hired again.

* MethodActing: Deliciously parodied InUniverse. Ian [=McKellen's=] acting method is to [[CaptainObvious pretend to be like the person he is portraying, and imagine how that character would act in that situation.]]

CringeComedy BritCom by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, starring Gervais as an out-of-work actor scraping by as an extra in the British film industry, with Ashley Jensen as his socially inept friend and fellow extra, and Merchant as his spectacularly incompetent agent. In the second season the story evolved as Gervais' character became the star of a popular but critically-reviled sitcom.

Packed a massive array of celebrity guests into its twelve episodes, and in fact the (officially untitled) episodes have often been referred to by names such as "Kate Winslet" or "Ben Stiller". Perhaps more impressively, the show has been extremely successful in getting actors to play versions of themselves who are incredibly conceited, or vicious, or vain, or stupid, or otherwise horrible human beings.

* BritishBrevity: Just twelve episodes plus a Christmas special. Some Hollywood actors were hopeful that it would continue to a third season just so they could appear on the show. Robert De Niro, in particular, hoped to appear a second time because he felt his appearance didn't turn out as well as he'd hoped.
* BrokenPedestal: Implied to be the case for Maggie towards Orlando Bloom. She has a huge poster of him on her apartment wall in the first season, but is thoroughly unimpressed by his crass personality when she meets him off-camera and rejects his advances.

* CrazyJealousGuy: Warwick Davis gets violent when Andy makes a pass at his wife.

** David Bowie's "serenade" to Andy.
** Andy has a stab at theatre respectability by appearing in a play directed by Sir Ian [=McKellen=], only to blow it big time when [[spoiler: he can't kiss his male co-star in front of his manly school buddies]].

** Andy trying to pass himself off as a Catholic in front a room full of'em while knowing almost nothing about the religion.

** Maggie confusing Creator/SamuelLJackson as Laurence Fishburne is hard to watch...
** Darren brings a prototype of a Ray Stokes doll to the BAFTA awards ceremony. Its voice box winds up malfunctioning and repeatedly saying the character's catchphrase very loudly, causing Richard Briers to destroy the doll and prompt a massive round of applause from the crowd while Andy, Darren, and Maggie sit in silence.

* GreenEyedMonster: Orlando Bloom seethes with jealousy over Johnny Depp:

* OscarBait: InUniverse, KateWinslet stars in a Holocaust film for the sole reason that it's a guaranteed Oscar. She also points out that "playing a mental" is another way to get on the Academy's shortlist. When Winslet won an ''actual'' Oscar for her role as an illiterate LoveInterest in Holocaust drama ''TheReader'', Gervais [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAweiV944qI didn't hesitate to remind her of her role in the show]].

* OverlyLongGag: Patrick Stewart's scene, in which he explains the plot of his new screenplay, about a man with telekinetic powers. He describes four or five different scenes, and the punchline (he uses his powers to remove a woman's clothes) is the same every time.

-->Ben Stiller: Would you stop going on about your FUCKING DEAD WIFE?
* ShoutOut: Darren and Barry scour the internet for good reviews of '' When The Whistle Blows'', but accidentally find one for ''Literature/TheWindInTheWillows'', after mistaking a picture of Mr Toad for Andy. Mr Toad was a nickname given to [[Series/TheOfficeUK another Ricky Gervais character]].

* SpoiledBrat: Andy. He's always complaining about how much people have ruined his sitcom and how terrible his acting career is going, even though the BBC took the risk of letting a complete newcomer co-write and star in his own sitcom, when a massive percentage of aspiring actors don't even come close to that stage in their careers in their lives.

* WhateverHappenedToTheMouse: Keith Chegwin is established as a regular on "When the Whistle Blows," but after his episode, he's never seen or mentioned again.

** Robert Lindsay cringing himself with his narcissism in front of the same ill child.

* ShoutOut: Darren and Barry scour the internet for good reviews of '' When The Whistle Blows'', but accidentally find one for ''Literature/TheWindInTheWillows'', after mistaking a picture of Mr Toad for Andy. Mr Toad was a nickname given to [[Series/TheOffice another Ricky Gervais character]].

--><i>Ben Stiller: Would you stop going on about your FUCKING DEAD WIFE?</i>

* WhateverHappenedToTheMouse?: Keith Chegwin is established as a regular on "When the Whistle Blows," but after his episode, he's never seen or mentioned again.

* BrokenPedestal: Implied to be the case for Maggy towards Orlando Bloom. She has a huge poster on her apartment wall of him in the first season, but is thoroughly unimpressed by his crass personality when she meets him off-camera and rejects his advances.

* KickTheDog: Amdy has an extra fired when he approaches him to ask for a line in the show.

* OscarBait: InUniverse, KateWinslet stars in a Holocaust film for the sole reason that it's a guaranteed Oscar. When Winslet won an ''actual'' Oscar for her role in Holocaust drama ''TheReader'', Gervais [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAweiV944qI didn't hesitate to remind her of her role in the show]].

** The ''Series/DoctorWho'' parody in the Christmas Special bears more than a passing resemblance to 1984's "The Twin Dilemma," which is widely regarded as the worst-ever ''Doctor Who'' story. Stephen Merchant has hinted that this wasn't just a co-incidence.

* BigGuyLittleGuy: just seeing Stephen Merchant and Warwick Davies in the same shot is enough to make you crack a smile.

* AManIsNotAVirgin: Daniel Radcliffe clearly runs on this trope in his episode, given his desperation to get laid. He does claim to have had sex, although it's somewhat doubtful. Averted with Andy, who lost his virginity at 28 to a woman who looked like Ronnie Corbett.

** Keith Chegwin challenges Andy to name a fun black person. Andy can, so Cheggers specifies a funny black ''British'' person. Andy can't. Then he sees a picture of Creator/LennyHenry on the wall. He still can't.