Gervais vetoes live Office show

Ricky Gervais has turned down an offer to make a stage show based on The Office.

The comic has revealed that he was given the chance of taking David Brent on a world tour, but turned it down for fear of exploiting the show,

He said: ‘We don't like to milk a project or exploit something we've created.

‘We were offered a world tour of The Office stage show. Milking it.

‘We were offered a huge deal to put out a Brent doll like the one of Ray in Extras. We just think it detracts from the legacy.’

He added that the American version of The Office ‘is making more money than any tour could and I don't need to get up off the sofa’.

Gervais, who is an executive producer on the remake, also confirmed that he and co-creator Stephen Merchant have written a new script for the NBC series.

Their episode, called The Convict, will air in the current third season.

Now 50 episodes of the American version have been made, it could be syndicated around the cable networks, meaning another windfall for Gervais.

‘If that happens I'm going to buy Buckingham Palace and turn it into a huge Nandos,’ he told the News Of The World.

Published: 8 Nov 2006