When you think of animated series featuring cats, wholesome classics like The Aristocats or Tom and Jerry probably come to mind.
Throw Ricky Gervais’s name into the mix, however, and it sets an entirely different expectation.
Alley Cats is the latest creation from the British comedian and follows the trials and tribulations of a group of feral cats from different walks of British society as they seek companionship while reflecting on the absurdities of everyday life.
The adult animated series comprises six 15-minute episodes and reunites several of Gervais’s After Life collaborators, who lend their voices to the foul-mouthed feline cast.
Led by Gervais, the ensemble also includes Diane Morgan, Jo Hartley, Tom Basden, David Earl, Kerry Godliman, Andrew Brooke and Natalie Cassidy.
Read more: Ricky Gervais pays tribute to dog from After Life after death at 13
David Earl as Puke, Jo Hartley as Kitten, Diane Morgan as Olive, Ricky Gervias as Gus, Andrew Brooke as Fang, Tom Basden as Ponce. PICTURE: Netflix
Gervais, 65, is best known for co-creating acclaimed British sitcoms including The Office, Extras and Life’s Too Short alongside Stephen Merchant.
His later series, After Life, balanced dark humour with an exploration of grief and suicide. Alley Cats draws on a similarly reflective style, pairing Gervais’s trademark irreverence with more existential themes.
Morgan, 50, is best known for her roles in Motherland and as the ill-informed investigative reporter Philomena Cunk, and says she was thrilled to reunite with Gervais for the series.
“If Ricky asked me to do anything, obviously I’d do it. I would have made sandwiches, to be honest,” jokes the Bolton-born comedian.
Speaking about the series, she says: “I know you see the cats and you think, ‘Oh, aren’t they cute and lovely? They’ll have these little adventures’ – and then they just open their mouths.
“It’s sort of like Derek and Clive.
Read more: Diane Morgan: ‘My skin’s got much better since I went vegan’
Diane Morgan as Olive. PICTURE: Netflix
I know you see the cats and you think, ‘Oh, aren’t they cute and lovely? They’ll have these little adventures’ – and then they just open their mouths
— Diane Morgan
“They used to be these really sweary comedians [Dudley Moore and Peter Cook]. The whole thing was as sick as it could be, and it’s sort of like that when we improvised as Alley Cats.”
Unlike many animated series, where actors record their lines separately in a voice booth, the cast of Alley Cats recorded the series together as an ensemble.
“It was lovely because we all know each other from After Life,” says Morgan.
“It’s basically the cast of After Life again, with a few new additions. And it’s such a treat as well to be able to just sit there and listen to Ricky improvise. You know, it feels like an honour, doesn’t it? I have a private audience with Ricky and all these amazing comics.
“I didn’t think of it as an animation. It’s basically a lot like After Life, and I think you had to think of it as just like a comedy.”
Read more: Bafta film awards will be ‘different, but still loads of fun’ – Jo Hartley
Tom Basden as Ponce and Diane Morgan as Olive. PICTURE: Netflix
Speaking about her character and the show’s themes, she says: “Olive’s an idiot, and she’s Ricky’s half-sister, so she’s got a lot of funny lines. You know those best bits where you just pop up, say a line, disappear again, and then I can sit back and watch everyone else improvising and just enjoy my afternoon.
“That’s what Ricky does. He’ll do these really emotional, poignant pieces, and then all of a sudden he’ll have this massive gear change into filth, but it sort of works.
“You can do that, it’s sort of like magic. Yeah, it’s just these stray cats that have these little adventures, and they’re trying to make sense of the world and why humans are such idiots and are wrecking everything. It’s lovely, actually.”
Hartley, 54, who is known for her roles in This Is England and After Life, says Alley Cats is her favourite job yet.
“We’re all very comfortable with each other, and I’m a big fan of them all,” says the Lancashire-born actress, referring to the cast.
Jo Hartley as Kitten. PICTURE: Netlfix
“Everybody’s an artist in their own right, like Ricky said. We’ve been working together for a few years now, so there’s a sort of camaraderie, a shorthand and a trust that’s really held itself together through this.
“You kind of get in there, go through the script once, and then go through it again and get to improvise.”
Speaking about working with Gervais she says: “Ricky is so intelligent as well, and he’s very, very intuitive. You look at the script and think, ‘Oh, that’s cute, you know, that’s great’. But then, when you get in there, it almost jumps off the page in a different way because you can see that, when he’s in the room, he’ll find a different meaning in something you perceived earlier.
“So I’ll see something, I’ll read it and go, ‘Oh, that meant that’. But when I get in the room, Ricky’s reaction to it, or the other actors’ reactions, can change your perspective.
“He’ll know what he wants, but he really does allow us to bring our own sort of twist to it. He’s very generous, actually, and very funny.
Tom Basden as Ponce and Ricky Gervias as Gus. PICTURE: Netflix
“He laughs all the time, so we have to kind of do it again. That was the difference when we were doing After Life and other jobs.
“He would just start laughing, and I’d be like, ‘I’m just being serious here, trying to…’ and everyone would be laughing, and we’d have to do it again and again.
“I think we get to do that on this too, but it’s a bit different because we’re not being visually recorded.
“But for me, as an actor, I guess I just wanted to turn up and be present. There wasn’t any preparation.”
She adds: “The everyday person will really relate to it because it tackles so many incredible topics, from everyday experiences to bigger ideas like philosophy, life and death, friendships and courage, all that kind of stuff.”
Alley Cats premieres on Netflix today