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Ricky Gervais interview thrown into chaos as beloved After Life dog bolts from The One Show set

RICKY Gervais’ interview on The One Show was thrown into chaos as his beloved canine co-star bolted off the set mid-interview.

The After Life actor joined hosts Alex Jones and Alex Scott on Monday night to talk about the latest series of his hit Netflix show.

BBCRicky appeared on The One Show with co-star Anti[/caption]

BBCThe canine plays character Tony’s beloved dog on the series[/caption]

Ricky, 60, opened up to viewers about the reasons behind him writing After Life and how he found inspiration from thinking about losing his own wife, Jane.

The comedian was joined on the green sofas by his on-screen pooch Anti, who sat patiently next to him through most of the interview.

“The final chapter of After Life was released on Netflix at the weekend,” Alex, 44, began, gushing over it becoming the “most popular British comedy” in a decade.

Ricky went on to reveal how he felt the success was down to the idea behind the show, which sees main character Tony cope with the death of his wife Lisa.

As the actor explained that he based the storyline on how he would feel if his own wife Jane, 61, passed away – it appeared dog Anti had heard enough.

The pooch whined and walked away from the interview as Ricky explained he wanted to “die first” before his other half to avoid ending up like Tony.

“That’s where the idea came from, the first thought I had was, ‘What if you lost everything?’ You could do what you want without consequences,” Ricky said.

“I think people connected with it because they hadn’t seen anything like that before, and after the first series, people came and told me about their struggles.

“You suddenly realise, everyone is grieving about someone, and this is about Tony trying to get through it and asking ‘If you lose everything in life still worth living?’”


“I’d be terrible, I want to go first, it’s selfish but,” Ricky began to say of his experience with his own wife, before he was cut off by the whining dog.

The German Shepherd could be seen turning to face the comedian, before licking his face and jumping up to get closer to Ricky.

“I won’t be going yet, I won’t be going anywhere yet,” the actor reassured his canine companion as the dog ran off set away from the cameras.

It comes days after Ricky revealed the reason behind why some of After Life’s best-loved characters are missing from the third season.

Widower and straight-talking Tony Johnson returned for After Life’s third and final chapter last Friday, but two notable individuals were nowhere to be seen.

In the first few episodes, local postman Pat gave Tony an update on his failing romance with Roxy, as he struggled to come to terms with her career as a sex worker.

However, those that have binged the entire six new episodes were disappointed not to see Roxy – portrayed by Roisin Conaty – feature at all. 

Another character missing came in the shape of Sandy – played by Mandeep Dhillon – who featured as a reporter at the Tambury Gazette.

As a result, fans of the hugely popular Netflix series took to Twitter to share their disappointment in not seeing either character.

With fans disappointed not to see the pair feature in any of the episodes, Gervais revealed why filming went ahead without them.

“Mandeep couldn’t do it because she was filming, so I’d sort of written her bit and I had time to change them,” he told Digital Spy.

The One Show airs weekdays at 7pm on BBC One. 

BBCAnti could be seen running off the set at one point in the show[/caption]