Alley Cats (2026)
Back in 2001, Ricky Gervais burst onto the British comedy scene with the original version of The Office. Co-created and written with Stephen Merchant, the series would prove hugely influential and spawned several international remakes, most successfully the American version. Gervais and Merchant's follow-up Extras was generally well received and featured several iconic scenes. After a short stint trying to launch him as a Hollywood leading man, the rest of his career has been much more divisive. His public persona is abrasive and obnoxious, a persona he continued in his stand-up shows. His later series Life's Too Short, Derek and After Life (the latter two without Merchant) have had a very mixed reception. He has worked in animation throughout his career, voice acting in films including Valiant, The Willoughbys and Dog Man. He's even one of the exalted few invited to write, not just act in, an episode of The Simpsons. HBO turned his popular podcast, presented with Merchant and the legendary Karl Pilkington, into an animated series called The Ricky Gervais Show. It was not a huge surprise then that Gervais would eventually turn to creating an animated series of his own. That series is Alley Cats.
Alley Cats is created and written by Ricky Gervais. It is directed by Gervais and Elliot Dear. The series is produced by Netflix, with animation production by Blink Industries. It features the voices of Gervais, Tom Basden, Diane Morgan, Jo Hartley, Andrew Brooke, David Earle, Tony Way, Kerry Godliman and more. The first six-episode season began streaming on August 7, 2026.
Cats swearing. More specifically, cats dropping the C-bomb, a lot. Do you find this idea amusing? If not, then Alley Cats is going to be a slog for you. Gervais' character Gus cusses up a storm, as does pretty much everyone else around him. Much of the bile is aimed at humans, as the cats pour scorn on everything they do. So much of the humour is based around that, and honestly there's not a whole lot more to it than that. Needless to say, if you are one of those who find the c-word actively offensive, this is probably not the show for you.
It's probably also not for you if you like depth to your humour. Saying bad words and supposedly "outrageous" things is pretty much the extent of its comic range. Gervais had cultivated a reputation online and in his stand-up for "shocking" jokes and comments and he tries to bring it in here. Only nothing is particularly shocking, and it just comes off as performatively "edgy" for the sake of it. And of course, there has to be time to get in a reference to Gervais' outspoken atheism. If you happen to be one of Ricky's loyal army of fans, and have enjoyed his more recent work, then you'll probably enjoy this much more than I did.
The series does at least try to add something more. Storylines featuring a lost kitten, feline romance and Gus's mum give the series more of an overarching narrative and add a surprisingly sentimental side. But they largely fall flat.
Reviews are subjective, by definition. But reviewing comedy is always a bit of a dicey proposition, as there are few things more personal than what you find funny. Nobody can be told what is and what isn't funny. With that said, I found Alley Cats to be aggressively unfunny- but your mileage may vary. The dialogue, the jokes, none of it works, and it has nothing interesting to say. The majority of the time is spent with the cats sitting around watching TV, making witless remarks. Some adult animation has been criticised for being little more than "animated radio plays" reliant on dialogue with basic animation. Here, it feels like this could have been a podcast. Ironically, Gervais has already featured in an actual animated podcast in The Ricky Gervais Show and that somehow worked so much better.
Whatever the shortcomings of Alley Cats, the voice cast are not to blame. The series is dominated by Gervais himself, playing essentially himself with fur. He gives pretty much the same performance he's given in everything for the past two decades or more. But the rest of the cast is made up of some talented comic performers, doing their best with the material given. They are largely assembled by Gervais from After Life and other past productions, so they are used to working together. They all turn it decent enough performances, with particularly good turns from Tom Basden, Diane Morgan and David Earl. It probably helps that the dialogue was recorded in group sessions, rather than individually.
In animation and technical terms, the series is perfectly solid. The character designs are pretty standard and not particularly inspired. Blink Industry's animation does the job asked of it and does it well. It doesn't require anything particularly flashy; Arcane this is not. It clearly doesn't have the budget of some of Netflix's higher-profile shows, but it doesn't need it when most of it is spent with cats on a sofa.
It's pretty novel to see a British adult animation, so it's good to see a series featuring UK accents and settings. It's just a shame that it wasn't in a better series. It does present a pretty grim, run-down vision of British life, and a tough, brutal world that the cats live in. It shows a harsh life for street cats, which is one of the more successful elements.
Another element of the series is its portrayal of cats. Gervais is a well-known cat lover, and Gus is supposedly modelled on his much-loved, late feline friend Ollie. However, the series largely misses the opportunity to mine real-life cat behaviour for laughs or pathos. There may be the odd touch here and there, but the quirks of cats are not nearly as well observed as in something like Simon's Cat.
The series just doesn't work, and the fundamental problem at the centre is the script. Yes, some of it is improvised. Perhaps if he had a co-writer rather than doing it all himself, it might have worked better. Perhaps he needs Stephen Merchant to get that balance and recapture the comedic genius he was capable of in his earlier career. Watching this makes The Office and Extras feel like a long time ago.
On the plus side, the series doesn't hang around enough to outstay its welcome. The episodes are only between 15 and 17 minutes each, and there are only six of them. The whole series can be watched in around the time it would take to watch a single movie. By which time you'll likely be more than ready for it to end. To quote the classic British/Irish sitcom Black Books: "Enjoy. It's dreadful, but it's quite short."
IN A NUTSHELL:
Bad Kitty! Gervais' sweary, surprisingly sentimental adult toon
is a charmless misfire.
Bad Kitty! Gervais' sweary, surprisingly sentimental adult toon is a charmless misfire.
★☆☆☆☆
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