After Life creator Ricky Gervais insists he wasn’t bothered about sending award winner Annette Crosbie, 86, ‘awkward’ lines littered with C words
Ricky Gervais admits he didn’t think twice about asking celebrated actress Annette Crosbie to use the C word while playing a dejected pensioner in the new series of After Life.
The Scottish actress, whose TV roles include sedate sitcoms The Vicar of Dibley and One Foot In The Grave, takes a cameo role as foul-mouthed care home resident Rosemary in the returning show’s opening episode.
Interviewed by local newspaper reporter Tony Johnson, played by Gervais, after receiving a letter from the Queen for her 100th birthday, the embittered old woman uses the C word no less than three times during a profanity littered exchange.
Funny: Ricky Gervais admits he didn’t think twice about asking celebrated actress Annette Crosbie to use the C word while playing a dejected pensioner in the new series of After Life (pictured)
But the show creator, 58, insists award winning actress Crosbie, 86, immediately said yes to the peripheral role after being sent her lines, and had no objection to the fruity language.
Responding to a Twitter follower who asked if he felt any awkwardness about sending her the script, he posted: ‘Haha. No not at all. You send people the script and they tell you whether they want to do it or not.’
A star of stage and screen for more than 50-years, Crosbie has won two BAFTA TV Awards for Best Actress – one for The Six Wives of Henry VIII and another for Edward the Seventh.
Not at all: Responding to a Twitter follower who asked if he felt any awkwardness about sending her the script, he admitted she said yes to the role – meaning she was unaffected by the fruity language
Hilarious: The Scottish actress takes a cameo role as foul-mouthed care home resident Rosemary in the returning show’s opening episode
She also took a starring role in 2003 film Calendar Girls alongside Dame Helen Mirren, Julie Walters and Celia Imrie.
Gervais recently admitted he could break his two series rule by developing a third instalment of After Life after being inundated with emotional messages from fans.
However Gervais admitted the enormous success of the show has put him under greater pressure to keep raising the bar.
Colourful: Interviewed by local newspaper reporter Tony Johnson, played by Gervais, the embittered old woman uses the C word no less than three times during a profanity littered exchange
Not bothered: But the show creator, 58, insists award winning actress Crosbie, 86, had no objection to using swear words
He said: ‘The better it goes down the worst it is for me, you can do something f***ing amazing, and everyone goes, “Oh god, it’s the best thing ever, 10/10.”
‘But if you do something else that is 9.5/10 people are like, “It’s f***ing awful, this is the worst show on television,” so that’s what goes through my mind.’
Gervais has previously enjoyed tremendous success with The Office and Extras, but has never produced more than two series’ of any show, opting instead to bow out before the format grows old.