Ricky Gervais Alley Cats Panned as Crude and Unearned
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- Alley Cats is a six-episode Netflix animated series about a gang of homeless cats led by Ricky Gervais's character Gus
- Gervais voices Gus alongside Andrew Brooke as Fang, David Earl as Puke, Tom Basden as the neutered pedigree "Ponce"/Rupert, Diane Morgan as Olive, and Jo Hartley as Kitten
- The reviewer argues the show leans on crude humor about genitalia, anal sex, and the C-word instead of sharp observation, framing it as part of Gervais's "downward trajectory" since The Office and Extras
- Diane Morgan's Olive is set up as "really thick" but then "simply becomes a perfectly ordinary cat" — the reviewer calls the setup "a further sign of the laziness of the whole endeavour"
- Jo Hartley's Kitten has scenes where she and Gus discuss death, but the reviewer calls the emotional payoff "entirely unearned" because "Gus has not yet taught Kitten a single, solitary thing"
- The reviewer closes by wishing Gervais would "stop indulging himself in lesser projects, go away, rest up and let his genius ferment once more, however long it takes"
- The reviewer's lone bright spot is Tom Basden's Ponce, whose lines like "And where is that in the league tables?" offer "some shelter from the hail of uninventive swears and pointless rants"
Why it matters: For Gervais, this Netflix vehicle marks another step in what the reviewer describes as a "downward trajectory" since The Office — the platform's freedom from mainstream broadcasting standards appears to enable exactly the unchecked crude humor the critic argues underserves his observational gifts, while still leaving room for the sentimental beats that unsettle her most.
