Ricky Gervais bashes TV: ‘Terrestrial telly is a s**** show’
Ricky Gervais thinks terrestrial TV is a “s**** show”.
The 62-year-old comedian became a household name after starring in programmes like ‘The Office’ and ‘Extras’, but Ricky no longer has time for traditional broadcasters because there is “no reason” to tune in while streaming platforms like Netflix exist.
According to The Sun newspaper, he said: “Terrestrial telly is s**** now. The only thing I watch is ‘The Chase’ – and ‘The Apprentice’.
“I just watch Netflix every night, or some sort of streaming service.
“There’s no reason to sit in front of the telly and have no choice any more.”
The actor had moved over to the streaming world in 2019 for his Netflix show ‘After Life’, and explained the transition away from terrestrial broadcasters was because the networks “wouldn’t be able to deal with” the offensive nature of the series.
During an appearance on BBC Radio 5 Live, he said: “They have complaints [systems], so they’re afraid of offending anyone.”
The ‘Derek’ star added he didn’t enjoy working with terrestrial networks because of their heavy censorship.
He said: “Soon you’re left with the same as everything else.
“We second guess the public too much. We think ‘ooh, can they take it?’ Of course they can take it.
“People lap it up because they feel like they’re not being patronised.”
“Luckily, it’s the best of both worlds with Netflix – it’s huge. Usually, to be uncompromised, I had to go to smaller channels so they’d leave me alone.
“It was BBC Two not BBC One, it was Channel 4 not ITV. Now Netflix come along and go ‘we’ve got more than all of them and we don’t interfere.’”
Ricky then admitted he and his partner Jane Fallon, 63, don’t watch his shows together.
He said: “She knows the whole process and she gives her notes as good as anyone would. But no, we don’t sit down and watch me on telly.”
