Gervais returns to radio job

Ricky Gervais is going back to DJ at the radio station where he used to work.

London indie music station XFM has signed the comic to host a two-hour show on Saturday afternoons.

The show will be co-hosted by Stephen Merchant, who co-wrote the hit BBC2 comedy The Office with 40-year-old Gervais.

Gervais first landed a job with XFM after helping the station with a promotional campaign with the University of London.

He once said of his first stint there: "I took the mickey out of DJ-speak and made a joke of how bad I was at my job."

Producers of Channel 4's 11 O'Clock Show heard him, and signed him up in 1999, after Ali G quit the show, and from then his TV career took off.

Published: 8 Oct 2001