Annecy 2026: Ricky Gervais Let’s The Netflix Cat Out Of The Bag
The cat was out of the bag yesterday at the Bonlieu as delegates were treated to their first glimpse of Alley Cats, the new show from Ricky Gervais and Netflix.
Gervais stepped out onto the stage to introduce the first two episodes of the series. The fans were clearly in the room, disarming the comedian with a rendition of ‘happy birthday’ which seemed to take him genuinely by surprise. It was interesting seeing Gervais in this capacity during both the introduction and the following Q&A masterclass, his Golden Globes persona, his stand up style and his eager talk show personality were all set aside. This was a creative, talking to a room full of creatives.
Alley Cats is centred around Gus (Gervais) a fat, horrible beast who spends his days causing havoc because that’s what cats do. The show uses this conceit to its advantage, allowing the ensemble to deliver huge expletive fuelled tangents aggressively trying to say the worst thing imaginable and largely succeeding. Revealing why cats make the perfect foil for this series Gervais said “I’ve loved cats all my life, they’re perfect little creatures – tiny but they think they’re lions.”
The series distils the Gervais approach to comedy, delivering nearly a full episode of swearing and verbal oneupmanship concluding with a life lesson. What makes a welcoming difference to this formula is that Gus isn’t the cleverest cat in the group exasperated by the cruel reality of life. Gus has flaws and will constantly make a fool of himself, returning Gervais to similar ground to The Office, however Gus is the antithesis to David Brent, where Brent would make a fool of himself to be loved, Gus makes a fool of himself arrogantly trying to assert his dominance.
The characters of the cats are played to match the voice actors range with Tom Basden playing Ponce, a pampered house cat, Andrew Brooke is Fang, who’s keen to show the rest who is boss, David Earl plays Puke, the mangiest of the group whose questionable behaviour and stories are enough to give the rest of the unshakable ensemble pause for thought. Diane Morgan plays the straight talking but dull witted Olive, Kerry Godliman plays Lara, the object of Gus’s limited affections and Jo Hartley portrays a stray kitten taken under the wing of the crew. If we return to The Ricky Gervais Show, an animated series where Gervais and Stephen Merchant picked apart the meandering thoughts of Karl Pilkington, you get some idea of the relationship Gus and Fang have with Ponce and Puke as they encourage vitriol in one another.
Alley Cats. (L to R) David Earl as Puke, Jo Hartley as Kitten, Diane Morgan as Olive, Ricky Gervias as Gus, Andrew Brooke as Fang, Tom Basden as Ponce, in Alley Cats. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2026
“It’s a sitcom” Gervais says of the show “I don’t like the term Adult Animation as it takes you to a different place”. However, critics of ‘animated radio’ style of animated sitcom might find cause for complaint here as the format often leads to the furry gang doing little apart from speaking. In defence of the animation, Blink have done a superb job in adding variety to the urban locations that the cats find themselves in, so don’t expect Family Guy style exchanges set in the same living room set with just the mouth moving.
When pressed on why make an animated sitcom the answer was “I don’t have to do hair and makeup. The cats are not going to age as I just get older and fatter, I can just sit in a chair and make this forever.” The show itself is grounded in a reality that is distant from traditional cartoon sitcoms, aiming for a more dramatic edge, particularly with the soundscape. “Everything’s realistic, apart from the cat’s talk, but everything else, it’s just, it’s just real and naturalistic.”
Pursuing the sitcom status of the show Gervais said “Sitcom isn’t about plot and clever lines and jokes, it’s about character, and if you love the characters, you can watch them do anything – you can watch them do nothing” taking the idea further he added “Watching Homer Simpson just trying to read something. I could watch that for half an hour, because you love them.” The show does mark an exciting moment for British animation as British Animated Sitcoms are very rare. Alley Cats captures a modern take on Britain with an animated edge and whilst it is fuelled by swearing, the language is delivered for the sake of the characters, and not done to garner outrage to boost audience figures which we saw with misguided Family Guy rip off Full English, which all but killed the prospect of any further British Animated sitcoms being produced back in 2012.
There was a lot of affection paid towards co-director Elliot Dear and the team at Blink who directed the animation and appear to have taught the writer/director a lot about the process, “I didn’t understand the beginning, they said things like ‘the line boils slightly differently’ (I thought) What are you fucking talking about? So it was big learning curve for me,”
Alley Cats. (L to R) Jo Hartley as Kitten, Diane Morgan as Olive, Ricky Gervias as Gus, David Earl as Puke, Andrew Brooke as Fang, Tom Basden as Ponce, in Alley Cats. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2026
The closeness between Elliot Dear and Ricky Gervais came through as they devised a way to work together to ensure that everything was staged correctly using analogy, references, jokes and live action references “I hope Elliot never loses his phone, because there’s videos of me crawling around the floor.” The auditorium were treated to two whole episodes that set up the story as well as clips from suture episodes, including a scene set to “There is a Light That Never Goes Out” by The Smiths, where the lyrics of the song mirror a date that Gus and Lara go on. “I had to write a nice letter to Morrissey and Johnny Marr, and they both said yes”.
Is it funny? Yes. The audience at Annecy lapped it up. The cast exemplify the idea that cats are horrible creatures to fantastic, hilarious effect. The jokes won’t be for everyone as they pay no regard to taste and decency, but that’s exactly what you sign up for when you press play. It’s not just a show about swearing cats, the bridges between the swear laden set pieces construct a cohesive story that’s worth following. Though the cats are funny, there is genuine humanity woven throughout the series. The delivery of more earnest moments may seem on the nose as they contrasts the humour so fiercely in these short episodes, but on the whole Alley Cats is a very engaging series and a cast of characters that you want to spend time with. “you create your own heroes and villains as role play for the soul” Gervais said when describing his writing process “that was the important thing I said to everyone on the cast and crew, I just want people to love these cats. If they love these cats, we’ve done it.”
Alley Cats lands on Netflix 7 August 2026