The man behind The Office

Winning writing team: Gervais and Merchant

With Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant created one of the monsters of British comedy - and put Slough on the map in a way the town could never have expected.

He began writing The Office at the age of just 26, creating in David Brent possibly the world's most incompetent manager.

Still only 31, he followed up the sitcom's success by co-writing Extras - again with Ricky Gervais. This time, he actually appears on screen, playing Andy's less than inspiring agent.

He came in to the Breakfast studio to tell us how his partnership with Ricky began - and where it's heading next.

He explained how he met Ricky when - bizarrely - the comedian landed the job of Head of Speech with the radio station XFM.

Ricky Gervais used to be Stephen's real-life boss

"He got the job and had never worked in radio before. He needed an assistant and my CV was on the top of the pile," Stephen explained.

Perhaps wisely, Stephen jumped ship to the BBC after just a week - Ricky had already admitted he hadn't a clue what he was doing - but their creative partnership has lasted much longer.

Dismissing stories that they may head for Hollywood, Stephen told us that their next project will be a new series of Extras - with some big new names.

"Ricky approached Brad Pitt and Madonna at the Live 8 concert, but they said yes in the way you do when you don't really want to go to a party," he said.

Extras is released on DVD on October 31