Ricky Gervais is motivated by honesty

He said: "As I get older, I don't want to try and be bigger or richer or try and win more awards, I just want to go, 'Is this the most honest I have ever been?' That's what drives me now."

Ricky is currently working on a second season of his comedy drama 'After Life' and admitted he is open to a third - but only if he gets some help with writing it.

Asked if he has any ideas about a possible one-off special, he quipped: "I do - unless I can get some of the cast to help me write the third series and just sit back and just turn up."

The British star is delighted by the response to the show - in which he plays Tony, a suicidal man who loses all his inhibitions when his wife dies - but admitted it took him by surprise.

Speaking at the Variety European TV Summit in London on Thursday (13.06.19), he said: "You suddenly realise everyone is grieving but they don't usually tell a stranger. I wasn't expecting that, I didn't think it was the most important thing about the show - for me it was a dramatic device to deliver jokes, drama."

Ricky feels "lucky" that he's always been given the final say on all his TV shows.

He said: "I've been lucky enough to always get final edit, I demanded it when I was a nobody with 'The Office' and got it because it was low-risk and no one cared...

"It's not a charity, If you don't deliver, they drop you."

Though he currently has a first look deal with Netflix, Ricky hasn't ruled out leaving the streaming service and returning to the BBC in the future.

He said: "I never say never. I have never taken a handcuffs deal in my life. I haven't got one with Netflix. They get first look now because it's great, it's perfect for me."