Alley Cats: Ricky Gervais is back with a boorish, sweary comedy – and I didn’t laugh once

Animated cats banter tediously in a show that’s determined to shock, but which leaves you checking your watch to see how long is left. It’s lazy, dated and far too pleased with itself

According to multiverse theory, there are parallel realities in which news of a new Ricky Gervais project instils a feeling other than dread. But we don’t live in them. Having seen his new series, Alley Cats (Netflix, from Friday 7 August), a boorish banter-vehicle in which animated cats shoot the breeze like a bunch of pub bores, I’m not sure what there is to report – other than the fact that I didn’t laugh once. Considering what a fan I once was, I find this remarkable. What happened?

Woke happened, is what his diehard fans would say. Gervais has paid the price of a shifting Overton window on jokes about dwarves and disabled people and trans people. You can’t say anything any more, they lament, while defending a wealthy, highly platformed man who proves the opposite. They’re not wrong, though – politics plays a part. While writing this, I stepped outside to say hello to a queer friend who was, naturally, buying a bicycle in the street. I asked her what she made of Ricky Gervais.