Life's Too Short's grounds for Gervais-Merchant divorce

Life's Too Short's penultimate episode saw Warwick Davis' marriage finally come to an end - sadly, we've still got one more instalment of this tripe before we can say goodbye to Ricky Gervais.

More excruciating humour from Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. They certainly succeed at painting a pathetic figure in dwarf actor Warwick Davis, the star of this "mockumentary", but whether you can bear to watch is another question. This week Warwick is beaten up by his accountant during divorce proceedings with his wife. He then tries to drum up some celebrities to come to his housewarming party, but ends up shelling out to book Cat Deeley and inevitably humiliating himself in front of his date. The slapstick provides the comedy while Warwick's eternally optimistic desperation is enough to make you wince.

Warwick Davis interview

As Ricky Gervais made headlines in October over posting "mong" jokes on Twitter, accompanied by a picture of his contorted face, people were ready and willing to chastise the actor and his new BBC mockumentary Life's Too Short.

Last week's episode of the "Let's All Laugh At Dwarfs" sitcom skidded right across the line from poor taste into the downright offensive.

This week, we're back on slightly safer ground, although the show would get a much easier ride if it was clear whether we're supposed to be laughing WITH Warwick Davis instead of merely at him.

This week he falls out of his car, again, down a toilet and off a bookcase.

It doesn't do much for ­political ­correctness, but it is an excellent showcase for Davis's comedic skills.

Meanwhile, they've saved on the plane fare for this week's big name guest star - Steve Carell from the US version of The Office - who appears via Skype.

No such expense was spared for Right Said Fred, though, who turn up in the flesh to give Warwick a leg-up at the Society Of People Of Small Stature.

Thursday night seems to be BBC Two's night for comedies that don't actually provide many laughs (see Rev). In Ricky Gervais's dwarf mockumentary, Warwick Davis finds his estranged wife is getting comfy with her solicitor - who has already moved his slippers into the former marital home. It's another enjoyable episode, but far from laugh-out-loud funny.

Gervais: Life's Too Short is satirical not exploitative

Ricky Gervais has defended Life's Too Short- which he wrote with Stephen Merchant - against critics who claim that the series exploits leading man Warwick Davis.

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Life's Too Short saw Helena Bonham-Carter join Warwick Davis, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, but the cracks are starting to widen in this underwhelming series.

Although it doesn't quite reach the heights of either The Office or Extras, this new mockumentary series from Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant does have its moments. In tonight's third episode, Warwick Davis, the show's star (who, in case you missed the pun, is a famous actor who also happens to be a dwarf) launches his new website, which does rather less well than he was hoping.

The clout of Ricky Gervais never ceases to amaze. Not only can he get away with insulting Johnny Depp at the Golden Globes, now he's got him guest starring in his new series.

Depp, who appears as an odious version of himself, is brilliantly appalling as he employs Warwick Davis to coach him for a part where he plays Rumpelstiltskin.

The gag in this series is how everyone thinks it's OK to treat Davis badly as he's small.

Watching Johnny Depp play the recorder while Davis has to ­Riverdance is off the comedy Richter scale. But there's worse at a sci-fi ­convention, where Davis is quizzed by a crass reporter.

Even though these scenes are made up, I bet they're ­exaggerated versions of situations Davis has encountered.

But we could have done without his own tasteless best man speech. This works best when the joke is on everyone else, not him.

In this second episode, Johnny Depp jokes that Gervais left Twitter because it had 140 characters, 139 more than Gervais has ever come up with. It's a self-reflexive piece of comedy: Gervais wrote the script, so is mocking himself, and he caused a storm on Twitter, for different reasons. But Warwick Davis, while brilliant, is very much the same character Gervais created in Extras and The Office - the deluded twonk, forever finding new ways to be humiliated. His ordeals tonight include a brutal improv session with Depp. It's excruciating, but also brilliantly, transgressively funny.