You’re either a die-hard Ricky Gervais fan, or you really can’t stand him. I love him. Even more so since I discovered “After Life” on Netflix a few years ago. It’s a British dark comedy-drama series created, written, produced, and directed by Ricky Gervais. He also plays the lead character, Tony Johnson. The premise sounds horribly sad — a middle-aged guy misses his deceased wife Lisa so much that he commits himself to being miserable in her absence. He says whatever he wants to everyone he sees or meets, damn the consequences. He just doesn’t care anymore.
Tony befriends a widow, played by Penelope Wilton (whom you will remember as Isobel Crawley in “Downton Abbey”) at the cemetery as he visits his wife’s grave. His mailman Pat reads Tony’s mail before he delivers it, and Roisin Conaty plays a sex worker friend of Tony’s who eventually begins dating the mailman. The characters are lovable and funny.
One of the main reasons why I like the show, besides the great characters and Gervais’ excellent portrayal, is because Gervais’ character is a writer for the Tambury Gazette, a community newspaper in what looks like a small, quaint English town. He and his hapless photographer, Lenny, who looks like he’s shooting with a camera he bought about 30 years ago, go all over town interviewing odd characters for the newspaper. Anyway, you’ll laugh and you’ll cry with this one. Give it a try. The third and final season just began on Netflix.