After Life is known for being beautifully poignant and hilariously funny with plenty of the outrageous comedy we've come to expect from its creator, Ricky Gervais. Chatting to HELLO! and other reporters about the show, Jo Hartley and Tony Way, who play June and Lenny, opened up about what it's like to read through the scripts for the very first time…
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Tony, who plays Ricky's character Tony's colleague Lenny, joked: "For me personally, I scan it for, 'Does he make me take my clothes off?' Something physically that's gonna be really embarrassing. Not I wouldn't do it, but I'd want to know in advance.
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"I remember in series two, he'd written really early on for Jo and I to have that funny sex scene where Ethan comes in. It's good to get a heads up on those sorts of things but normally, you trust Ricky to have worked the jokes out. He thinks about it, and the more outrageous it is, the more he's thought it through. You trust him."
Tony and Jo opened up about the show
He continued: "Ricky does say on occasion, 'Have I gone too far?' He does ask, 'Is this right?' And I always say, 'I trust you.' But then I find myself having him blow a raspberry on my belly in the middle of a cafe in public so on the actual day I think, maybe it's not such a good idea after all [laughs], but when you watch it back, it's funny!
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"He's not trying to not offend people. I don't think that's the point. I think that people should be offended if they're wrong, or people should be forced to think about things. And sometimes it's just a joke as well, sometimes it is just funny. I always trust that he's worked it all out. I mean, he's saying it most of the time anyway. People love it, they really do love it."
Season three is on Netflix now
Jo, who plays June, added: "I trust him. The stuff like… the love making where James interrupts us, there were like 20 people stood around, Ricky was bawling laughing with embarrassment, we did about three takes and that was it… but the one that made me laugh so much was the first day on set for season three where I go in and I'm asking James if he wants cake in the bathroom.
"I had literally just finished In My Skin. I was playing this really intense role, and then I was on to After Life and I really was like, 'Oh, this is amazing.' I was crying laughing."
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