Ricky Gervais Defends Alley Cats After Netflix Comedy’s Scathing Reviews

The creator of The Office, Extras and After Life premiered his new animated series last week, depicting a group of foul-mouthed stray cats living on the streets of London.

Upon its release, Alley Cats was near-unanimously mauled by critics, many of whom branded it “smug” and needlessly “crude” in a smattering of one- and even zero-star reviews.

Ahead of its release on Friday morning, Ricky posted on X: “If you watch Alley Cats and you get offended at any point, just remember that 1, It’s just a cartoon about cats, and 2, you’re an adult, and can take it.”

He then spent the next few days reposting praise for the show, including one comment by the actor James Dreyfus, who lambasted “pronoun wankers” he claimed were “raging about Alley Cats”, which he described as “a brilliant new cartoon series” and “wickedly funny, very rude and unexpectedly moving” (it’s perhaps worth noting in this instance that even more right-leaning outlets, such as The Telegraph and GB News, were heavily critical of Alley Cats upon its return).

Eventually, once Alley Cats made it to the top spot on Netflix’s in-platform chart of most-watched shows, Ricky commented on Sunday morning: “Oh. My. God. I’ve never been so happy. Best fans in the fucking world.”

The following morning, he wrote: “Millions of you watched Alley Cats last night and kept it at number one. That has annoyed a few people. You should be ashamed of yourselves.”

In an interview with The Times – which gave Alley Cats a more forgiving three-star review, but questioned whether some might find it to be “too much” – published ahead of Alley Cats’ release, Ricky also remarked: “I’m sure many people will find many things to be offended by – with some people it’s their job.”

He added: “It doesn’t bother me, no. It’s inevitable and a bit boring now. But the funny thing is they’ll have to say, ‘I was offended by what a fictional cartoon cat said.’ I can’t wait for that.”