Ricky Gervais is returning to Netflix with Alley Cats, an adult animated comedy in which he voices a feral British street cat — and on Monday, the streamer dropped the first trailer alongside a confirmed premiere date of August 7.
The six-episode series, each episode running roughly 15 minutes, follows a ragged group of feral cats from across British society as they seek connection and bicker their way through daily life. Gervais created, wrote, and directed the show, and voices Gus, a chubby orange cat whose sarcastic disposition puts him squarely in the tradition of animated feline antiheroes. The tagline — “Nine lives, zero f***s” — leaves little ambiguity about the tone.
Production was handled by London-based animation studio Blink Industries, known for its distinctive 2D visual style. The project has been in development since at least September 2025 and was quietly announced in the Annecy International Animation Film Festival lineup before Monday’s trailer made it public.
The voice cast reads like a reunion of Gervais’ closest collaborators. David Earl, Diane Morgan, Jo Hartley, Kerry Godliman, and Tony Way — veterans of After Life, Extras, and Derek — all return. Tom Basden and Andrew Brooke round out the core ensemble. Natalie Cassidy, best known for EastEnders, also appears.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about a trailer,” Gervais said in a statement. “I can’t wait for everyone to get to know these cats.”
Gervais will appear at the Annecy festival on June 25 to discuss the series, where Netflix will screen the first two episodes for attendees — the earliest anyone outside the production will have seen finished footage.
The show fits neatly into Netflix’s established appetite for British-inflected adult animation. The streamer has backed the format before with BoJack Horseman and Big Mouth, though Alley Cats marks its first major commission in the space with a creator of Gervais’ profile fully in control of every aspect — writing, directing, and performing.
