Vislor Antilly, the German Shepherd who played Brandy, Ricky Gervais’ sidekick in After Life, has died at the age of 13.
In 2018, Gervais cast Anti as the companion of his character Tony Johnson as he grieved the death of his wife, Lisa, as played by Kerry Godliman.
The dog was such a hit on the Netflix comedy-drama that the comedian repeatedly promised fans on social media that ‘the dog does not die’ in the run-up to every season.
Gervais said today: ‘This is such sad news. Anti was a beautiful soul. We hit it off straight away and she helped make After Life my favourite filming experience of all time. I’m so glad that I told her a hundred times a day that she was a very good girl.’
Anti, who died in her Oxfordshire home, was born in April 2011 in Herefordshire, at Vislor Dog Training Centre. Both of her parents, also raised by Vislor trainers Travis and Ashley Foster, appeared with Bane's henchmen in Christopher Nolan’s Batman: The Dark Knight Rises in 2012. Anti visited them on set when she was only 10 weeks old.
She made her own screen debut alongside Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow in 2014, going on to appear with Michael Fassbender in Trespass Against Us and George Clooney in The Midnight Sky. Clooney went on to cast Anti in his 2023 release The Boys in the Boat.
Her work in TV included BBC’s The Capture alongside Holliday Grainger and Ron Perlman, ITV’s Doc Martin, where she performed stunts with Martin Clunes, Britain’s Got More Talent with David Walliams, and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.
She also appeared on Good Morning Britain, interviewed with her owners Ashley Foster and Beth Heale, the BBC’s The One Show twice, and Lorraine with Gervais as part of the promotional tour for season three of After Life. She even has her own IMDB page.
Her final stunt on camera was released in July 2024 – on season 23, episode 2 of Midsomer Murders – playing a retired police dog who detains the murderer before retiring in real life from film and TV at 11 years old.
