{"id":625976,"date":"2026-08-07T20:32:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/625976\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:32:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:32:28","slug":"alley-cats-its-sort-of-like-derek-and-clive-with-cats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/625976\/","title":{"rendered":"Alley Cats: \u2018It\u2019s sort of like Derek and Clive with cats\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you think of animated series featuring cats, wholesome classics like The Aristocats or Tom and Jerry probably come to mind.<\/p>\n

Throw Ricky Gervais<\/a>\u2019s name into the mix, however, and it sets an entirely different expectation.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The adult animated series comprises six 15-minute episodes and reunites several of Gervais\u2019s After Life<\/a> collaborators, who lend their voices to the foul-mouthed feline cast.<\/p>\n

\"What’s<\/a>\"Alley<\/a><\/p>\n

Led by Gervais, the ensemble also includes Diane Morgan<\/a>, Jo Hartley, Tom Basden<\/a>, David Earl, Kerry Godliman, Andrew Brooke and Natalie Cassidy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read more: <\/b>Ricky Gervais pays tribute to dog from After Life after death at 13<\/a><\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid 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 <\/p>\n

Gervais, 65, is best known for co-creating acclaimed British sitcoms including The Office, Extras and Life\u2019s Too Short alongside Stephen Merchant.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s trademark irreverence with more existential themes.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Ricky asked me to do anything, obviously I\u2019d do it. I would have made sandwiches, to be honest,\u201d jokes the Bolton-born comedian.<\/p>\n

Speaking about the series, she says: \u201cI know you see the cats and you think, \u2018Oh, aren\u2019t they cute and lovely? They\u2019ll have these little adventures\u2019 – and then they just open their mouths. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sort of like Derek and Clive.<\/p>\n

Read more: <\/b>Diane Morgan: \u2018My skin\u2019s got much better since I went vegan\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\"DianeDiane Morgan as Olive. PICTURE: Netflix <\/p>\n

\n

I know you see the cats and you think, \u2018Oh, aren\u2019t they cute and lovely? They\u2019ll have these little adventures\u2019 – and then they just open their mouths<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Diane Morgan<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThey used to be these really sweary comedians [Dudley Moore and Peter Cook]. The whole thing was as sick as it could be, and it\u2019s sort of like that when we improvised as Alley Cats.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was lovely because we all know each other from After Life,\u201d says Morgan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s basically the cast of After Life again, with a few new additions. And it\u2019s 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\u2019t it? I have a private audience with Ricky and all these amazing comics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think of it as an animation. It\u2019s basically a lot like After Life, and I think you had to think of it as just like a comedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more: <\/b>Bafta film awards will be \u2018different, but still loads of fun\u2019 \u2013 Jo Hartley<\/a><\/p>\n

\"TomTom Basden as Ponce and Diane Morgan as Olive. PICTURE: Netflix <\/p>\n

Speaking about her character and the show\u2019s themes, she says: \u201cOlive\u2019s an idiot, and she\u2019s Ricky\u2019s half-sister, so she\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what Ricky does. He\u2019ll do these really emotional, poignant pieces, and then all of a sudden he\u2019ll have this massive gear change into filth, but it sort of works.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can do that, it\u2019s sort of like magic. Yeah, it\u2019s just these stray cats that have these little adventures, and they\u2019re trying to make sense of the world and why humans are such idiots and are wrecking everything. It\u2019s lovely, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hartley, 54, who is known for her roles in This Is England and After Life, says Alley Cats is her favourite job yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all very comfortable with each other, and I\u2019m a big fan of them all,\u201d says the Lancashire-born actress, referring to the cast.<\/p>\n

\"JoJo Hartley as Kitten. PICTURE: Netlfix <\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s an artist in their own right, like Ricky said. We\u2019ve been working together for a few years now, so there\u2019s a sort of camaraderie, a shorthand and a trust that\u2019s really held itself together through this.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou kind of get in there, go through the script once, and then go through it again and get to improvise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking about working with Gervais she says: \u201cRicky is so intelligent as well, and he\u2019s very, very intuitive. You look at the script and think, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s cute, you know, that\u2019s great\u2019. But then, when you get in there, it almost jumps off the page in a different way because you can see that, when he\u2019s in the room, he\u2019ll find a different meaning in something you perceived earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019ll see something, I\u2019ll read it and go, \u2018Oh, that meant that\u2019. But when I get in the room, Ricky\u2019s reaction to it, or the other actors\u2019 reactions, can change your perspective. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll know what he wants, but he really does allow us to bring our own sort of twist to it. He\u2019s very generous, actually, and very funny.<\/p>\n

\"TomTom Basden as Ponce and Ricky Gervias as Gus. PICTURE: Netflix <\/p>\n

\u201cHe 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe would just start laughing, and I\u2019d be like, \u2018I\u2019m just being serious here, trying to\u2026\u2019 and everyone would be laughing, and we\u2019d have to do it again and again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we get to do that on this too, but it\u2019s a bit different because we\u2019re not being visually recorded. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut for me, as an actor, I guess I just wanted to turn up and be present. There wasn\u2019t any preparation.\u201d<\/p>\n

She adds: \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alley Cats premieres on Netflix today<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you think of animated series featuring cats, wholesome classics like The Aristocats or Tom and Jerry probably…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[75],"tags":[506,1380,18,117,19,17,127,29234,826,128],"class_list":["post-625976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-cartoons","tag-comedy","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-netflix","tag-ricky-gervais","tag-streaming","tag-tv"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117056135065380523","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}