Gervais stars in training video

Ricky Gervais has recorded a series of lucrative corporate videos as The Office's David Brent.

The comic, who vowed retire the character after the two-part finale aired on BBC1 this Christmas, has written and starred in a series of training films for Microsoft .

Gervais, 42, recorded them in the software giant's UK headquarters, near to his home town of Reading, before the Christmas specials went out.

One worker told BBC Berkshire. "Ricky has been up here and there are posters everywhere."

The posters feature pictures of Gervais as Brent with the slogan: "I'm back and this time it's Personal Development."

But Microsoft is keeping the project under wraps. A spokeswoman said: "We can't provide information about any of Ricky Gervais's project at Microsoft.

"It is an internal thing and not something which we like to publicise. It is something we do for staff and staff only."

Published: 9 Jan 2004