A star rating of 1 out of 5.<\/p>\n
For years, Ricky Gervais<\/a> has occupied a position where he comfortably polarises viewers: if haters and critics find his work increasingly basic, that doesn\u2019t matter because his fanbase loudly disagree, seemingly regardless of what he serves up to them. With the almost surreally lazy Alley Cats on Netflix<\/a>, his first animated comedy, that loyalty is really tested.<\/p>\n He\u2019s back to his roots: cynical Gus (Gervais), uncouth Fang (Andrew Brooke) and their feral friends are street cats, but they\u2019ve found a derelict house with a sofa and a TV where they can banter like a sitcom family. The dialogue, however, is more like the podcasts Gervais diversified into once he was established on TV.<\/p>\n Semi-improvised as an ensemble audio track with the animation added afterwards, the cat chat gives Gus and Fang two targets for their weary mockery. David Earl takes his usual place in the Gervais repertory as a priapic oddball: his character, Puke, boasts about having sex with rats and worms. Getting even more stick is the gang\u2019s domesticated, educated friend Ponce (Tom Basden).<\/p>\n As the group tackle debates including the method by which they\u2019d prefer to die, if there\u2019s a god and whether bees produce enough honey, Ponce\u2019s efforts to lord it over his frenemies never work, because he\u2019s bullied out of every conversation with a torrent of abuse and nonsensical arguments. If you\u2019ve ever wasted time arguing online, you\u2019ll know the dynamic: Person Who Knows Things versus Trolls. Alley Cats jeers along with the trolls.<\/p>\n The podcasty sitcom part of the show is not terrible, albeit reliant on swearing to replace jokes. Netflix\u2019s all-time record for uses of the c-word has surely been smashed. But that\u2019s not the problem. What makes Alley Cats so jarring is the issue that\u2019s dogged Gervais’s recent productions: he wants to be a dramatist as well as a comedian, but doesn\u2019t want to do any of the work that traditionally sets up emotional pay-offs. He just goes straight there.<\/p>\n In both Derek (elderly people, and people whose brains are wired differently, are magic \u2013 it is sad when people are mean to them!) and After Life<\/a> (it is sad if your wife dies!), the addiction to patronising homilies was terminal. You might assume a 15-minute cartoon about talking animals would be immune: there\u2019s not much time left after everyone\u2019s finished calling Ponce a “c***”. But Gervais just hyper-accelerates his trademark mawkishness. Alley Cats makes his live-action comedy dramas look like Tolstoy.<\/p>\n Not once but twice, a supporting character is introduced purely so they can be killed off again to the sound of sad piano music. It\u2019s as emotionally powerful as it would be if I told you to imagine a cat\u2026 in fact, let\u2019s do that now. Imagine there\u2019s a cat. OK? Well, it\u2019s died. Yeah? That cat is dead. Are you sobbing? Great! Ricky Gervais is the writer for you.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll love the two-scene narrative arc about Gus and his estranged mother. The running stories where Gus hides his concern for a stray named Kitten (Jo Hartley) and stalls before committing to romance with obvious soulmate Lara (Kerry Godliman) \u2013 because although he tells his mates he doesn\u2019t care about anything, he\u2019s really a softie! \u2013 are not much more sophisticated.<\/p>\n Want to see this content?<\/p>\n Accept and continue<\/p>\n Connoisseurs of late-period Gervais will, meanwhile, be listening for clangingly unimaginative needle drops, and they don\u2019t disappoint. Old favourites James Taylor (sad wistfulness) and Cat Stevens (wistful sadness) get a runout, while viewers who have still not fully recovered from the scene in Derek of frail elderly people soundtracked by Radiohead\u2019s Bones will be finished off by the montage of Gus and Lara walking across busy roads, backed by There Is a Light that Never Goes Out by the Smiths.<\/p>\n The mix of raucous crudeness and simplistic sentimentality \u2013 one thing the two elements share is that they\u2019re both aggressively, insistently philistine \u2013 has become the signature Gervais style, but that doesn\u2019t make Alley Cats any more appetising. In 2D, his writing falls flatter than ever.<\/p>\n Add Alley Cats to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app<\/a> \u2013 download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.<\/p>\n Check out more of our Comedy<\/a> coverage or visit our TV Guide<\/a> and Streaming Guide<\/a> to find out what’s on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A star rating of 1 out of 5. 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