Ricky Beams Up An Extra Trekkie

Ricky GervaisComedian Ricky Gervais has hired Star Trek legend Patrick Stewart to star in his new comedy Extras.

Patrick - who played Starship Enterprise Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the space series - will join a host of big names including Kate Winslet, Ben Stiller, Samuel L Jackson and Ross Kemp in the sitcom.

The stars will all play twisted versions of themselves in the show, due to be shown on BB2 in June.

Ricky will boldly go where no man has gone before - by poking fun at Shakespearian actor Patrick.

Ricky, 43, and his writing partner Stephen Merchant have penned a special episode for him.

A show insider told The Sun: "In every episode, Ricky finds some way to mock his guest stars by taking the mickey out of their public persona.

Patrick Stewart"Patrick will be no different. He's a serious Shakespearian actor so that's ripe for the picking.

"Ricky and Stephen have written a script that's got lots of references to all of Patrick's work, from Star Trek to theatre and X Men films."

Patrick's script was written after Jude Law pulled out due to work commitments.