The inherent fallacy of gravy trains should be obvious from one man - Ricky Gervais.

Few people would dispute The Office as a masterful piece of comedy, the awkwardness of the workplace and so on. Critically and popularly acclaimed... well, the first two series. Many found the Christmas Special to be a rather... saccharine wrap up to the show which had done so well because it didn't force a happy ending on us. That should have been a warning sign.

Naturally, though - someone that makes such a hit becomes rather popular with producers and given the deluge of affection for The Office, not to mention the shower of awards it won... it's no surprise that Extras so quickly graced our screens. Hardly surprising but then, hardly the success of its predecessor.

Many people would - perhaps - accept that a creation like The Office would be a peak which they'd never surpass. Ricky Gervais clearly thinks he's great - criticism of the vastly inferior Extras garnered his irritation. Not just that - he seems unable to bear the criticism that marred the release of The Office and made references to it several times in his startlingly mediocre stand-up.

Now Gervais parades around chat shows, struggling to contain his irritation. Clearly burdened by his obscenely large ego. It's hard to know why he's irritated - one assumes he's doing pretty well for himself. Ironic that his ego grows as the quality of his work drops but that's the gravy train... but we'll have to endure the sucking for a while longer.