Ricky Gervais confirms casting

Rapper-turned-comic Doc Brown is to co-star in the new David Brent movie, Ricky Gervais has announced.

Brown – real name Ben Bailey Smith – has collaborated with The Office star before, including making the 2013 Comic Relief song Equality Street together.

Now Gervais has revealed he will also be starring in the Life On The Road rockumentary, which picks up with Brent 15 years after Wernham Hogg when he's trying to make a success of his band, Foregone Conclusion, while holding down a day job as a travelling salesman selling urinal cakes.

'I have cast Doc Brown,' Gervais told RadioTimes.com. 'I make him come on the road with me to do some stuff. The idea is that I am probably holding him back because he's actually got a chance of making it as a musician, but he's with this 50-year-old rep called David Brent.'

Brown has also previously supported Gervais on tour, and he played community service worker Deon in Derek.

Gervais also revealed a couple of new songs he has written for the movie, which will be filmed later this year.

'One has Brent singing about the plight of the Native American Indian. As you can imagine he got his information off Wikipedia and it's horrendously pompous and wrong and accidentally insulting. Another is called Don't Cry it's Christmas… it's a song about an orphan he knew.'

Published: 25 Feb 2015