Samuel L. Jackson (episode)

Maggie, Andy, and the Dullard stand before the grave that Andy falsely alleges is his mother's

## Chronology

### Next

Patrick Stewart

'**Samuel L. Jackson**' is the fifth episode of the first season of *Extras*. It was originally broadcast on 18 August 2005 on BBC Two and 30 October 2005 on HBO. The guest stars in this episode were American actor Samuel L. Jackson and British actor Patrick Malahide.

## Summary

Samuel L. Jackson is starring as a maverick American cop in a British police film and a fellow extra forfeits the opportunity to do a scene with Jackson, to Andy's benefit. The fellow extra tells Andy tragic stories about people whom he has known. When he uses the favour he did for Andy to pressure him into being his friend, Andy resorts to lies and excuses to try to shake him off. Due to the man's insistence, Andy caves in and agrees to have dinner with him, though Andy feels obliged to assure the other restaurant patrons that he and his dinner companion are not a couple. The man's demeanour proves to be too much, so a frustrated Andy twice plunges his face into his soup after being invited to the Ben Elton musical *We Will Rock You*, before abruptly leaving.

Maggie is attracted to a young mixed race actor, Dan. Despite some initial misunderstandings due to her over-sensitivity about race, she successfully asks him out on a date, but when he sees her try to hide her golliwog, he ends the date early. When she chats with Jackson on set the day after, she confuses him with Laurence Fishburne. Andy tries to save the ailing conversation but instead making things significantly worse, resulting in Andy forfeiting the line he had earlier managed to get with Jackson.

## Plot

Andy and Maggie are on the set of a major film starring Samuel L. Jackson, playing background security guards.

Maggie eyes out Dan, an actor with a minor role in the film, and tries to flirt with him. Andy watches on and smiles in the background at her awkwardness.

Andy doesn't want to make friends with anyone on set, but another extra, an older, bald man (credited as Dullard), catches his eye and forces conversation on Andy. He does Andy a favour by suggesting Andy take a speaking line that could have gone to him. Andy thanks him, and the Dullard wants Andy to take him out one night to return the favour.

Maggie and Andy try to eat on the same bus as the main actors but the driver won't let them on due to their status as extras. After a minor scuffle, they retreat to their own designated bus.

The Dullard corners Andy and tells him a depressing story about a blind friend. He pressures Andy to take him out to dinner, and Andy tries quite hard to avoid doing it.

Maggie talks with Dan, a mixed-race man. Maggie puts her foot in her mouth by talking about black actors in an unflattering way and she makes a hasty retreat.

At lunch with Andy, Maggie shares her worries that Dan falsely believes her to be a racist. Andy teases her by giving her "the racism test", which includes the question "Who would you rather have waiting for you at home, Johnny Depp or O.J. Simpson?" Andy informs her that she failed the test. Nonetheless, Maggie asks Dan out and he says yes.

Walking home, Maggie and Andy are greeted by the Dullard. They try to lose him by saying that they're visiting a cemetery nearby to the film set, which fails due to him insisting on going with them. Andy alleges that he and Maggie are going to see Andy's mother's grave, and they choose a random grave which eventually ruins their ruse. When the Dullard figures out that Maggie and Andy are trying to trick him, Andy relents and agrees to go out to dinner with him.

Andy and the Dullard have a depressing dinner in a restaurant as the man talks about his unfaithful ex-wife. Andy is miserable.

Meanwhile, Maggie is having a romantic time with Dan at a bar and then back at her apartment. While talking on the sofa, Maggie spots a golliwog toy – a black-face doll – on her shelf. She tries to hide it for fear of Dan being offended by it, but Dan catches her and she babbles in her nervousness. Dan notes how uncomfortable she is and leaves. Despite the awkwardness, Dan insists that he likes Maggie and he wants to hang out with her another time. Maggie is mortified.

Back at Andy's dinner, he continues to be miserable. He tells the Dullard that he's too depressed to stay, and after the Dullard offers him a ticket to Ben Elton's musical *We Will Rock You*, Andy twice plants his face in his bowl of soup before abruptly leaving.

On set, Andy and Maggie share the details on their mortifying nights. When Maggie sees Dan, she tries to apologise. The conversation runs awry when she mistakes Samuel L. Jackson for Laurence Fishburne. Maggie and Andy are forced to leave the set, with Andy missing out on his opportunity to speak his lines after he himself offended Jackson too.

## Cast

### Main

* Ricky Gervais as Andy Millman
* Ashley Jensen as Maggie Jacobs

### Guest

* Steve Speirs as the Dullard
* Michael Wildman as Dan
* Patrick Malahide as himself (as Minister)
* Samuel L. Jackson as himself

### Extra

* Grace Kingslene as Actress
* David Ricardo-Pearce as Jobsworth
* Nick Ball as Waiter

## Quotes

* Maggie: (when asked by Andy if she is referring to the "Rosa Parks incident") "It wasn't in a park, it was on a bus."
* Andy: (when asked by Maggie what he'll do about the Dullard) "Add him to the long list of people that I have to avoid for the rest of my life."
* Samuel L. Jackson: (in character, when asked what the Patrick Malahide's character should tell the Prime Minister) "Tell him that Uncle Sam's in town."

## Trivia

* Due to Samuel L. Jackson's busy schedule, his scenes were filmed a month before the rest of the episode was shot. It took him only a day.
* When Maggie meets Samuel L. Jackson, she says he played Morpheus in *The Matrix* (1999), and he corrects her saying it was Laurence Fishburne. The scene is based on the fact that Jackson is often mistaken for Fishburne (and vice versa) in real life. In fact, once during a live interview with Samuel L. Jackson an interviewer made Maggie's exact mistake.

## Cultural references

* Andy makes a joke about E.T. from *E.T. the Extra Terrestrial* (1982).
* Maggie, during an awkward conversation with Dan, says that there are many black actors in the reenactments of crimes on *Crimewatch*, a British television series.
* Maggie incorrectly states that Samuel L. Jackson was in the film *The Matrix* (1999); on the other hand, Andy correctly mentions Jackson being in *Pulp Fiction* (1994).
* The Dullard boasts to Andy that he has *Vera Drake* (2004) on DVD.