Ricky Gervais to reprise Office role

Ricky Gervais is to reprise the role of David Brent for an appearance on the American version of The Office.

However the show’s producer Paul Lieberstein said it would only be a brief cameo, adding: ‘It's a little more than if you blink, you'll miss it, but if you don't set your TiVo right, you'll miss it.’

The appearance will come as Steve Carell prepares to step down from the role of Michael Scott in the NBC series which has made Gervais a fortune as creator and executive producer.

‘It's outside of the office, and it's just the two of them interacting,’ Lieberstein told New York magazine. ‘It's just a little nod to Steve and his final year.’

He added he had been hoping to keep Gervais’s appearance on the January 27 episode secret – they didn’t tell NBC at first, and Gervais worked for free, so he didn’t appear on the payroll.

Carell was one of Gervais’s targets at Sunday's Golden Globes ceremony, when he said: ‘He is leaving, killing a cash cow for both of us  -  the ungrateful Steve Carell.’

Published: 19 Jan 2011