A cause that unites

I think most of the human race is solidly behind the idea of Ricky Gervais’s assisted suicide:

Comedian Ricky Gervais, 57, says he in favour of assisted suicide as he launches new Netflix series about death and grief. He has notoriously joked about the most controversial of subjects – but Ricky Gervais is deadly serious about how he sees his own life ending. Speaking exclusively to Event magazine today, the creator of The Office and Extras reveals: ‘I am in favour of assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia.

‘I know that I’d want it. I hope when I’m ready to go you can just go to Boots and get something. I hope we get more advanced and more liberal, that there’s not all this hate for people who want to do it, all this going, ‘How dare you?’ That’s madness.’

His comments come ahead of After Life, his upcoming Netflix series about death and grief, which is said to be as black as comedy can be. Gervais, 57, reveals his latest TV character, a depressed journalist who dabbles with hard drugs and thoughts of suicide after his wife’s death from cancer, is his darkest by far and made him face up to his own mortality.

There are probably a lot of people who would pay rather well for the privilege of assisting Mr. Gervais. Perhaps he could approach it as a charity auction.