It doesn't take Columbo to uncover numerous clear examples of light-fingeredness by disabled-mocking TV unfunny-man Ricky Gervais. Far from writing and producing all of his own material, as he claims, Mr. Gervais appears to be a bit of a kleptomaniac. Taking inspiration from past works happens, sometimes with a respectful nod to the original but this is ridiculous. He's been directly and deliberately stealing original material submitted to publishers or production companies . Alongside the blatant rip-off of my manuscript in the making of Flanimals, question marks hang over the originality of virtually all of Gervais' productions. Past thievery includes Extras, which was directly stolen ; concept, title and setting from award winning Australian pilot The Extra , conceived by Adam Wells and directed by Darren Ashton in 1999, and pending pre-action litigation it has also emerged that Afterlife was also stolen from a submitted script . ...

I  will never forget that morning back in 2004 when my phone started ringing with calls telling me that Ricky Gervais had ripped off my book,  Captain Pottie's Wildlife Encyclopaedia . ISBN 954820827X, 2000. He'd been on TV plugging the upcoming release of   Flanimals  but I had no interest in him so hadn’t taken much notice. It sounded crazy. Why would someone who'd just had massive hit TV series need to steal someone else's work? I couldn’t believe what I was hearing so headed down to the nearest bookshop to check it out for myself. At first glance the packaging and style were very different. Mine a pocket-sized mock-Victorian Encyclopaedia, understated and slightly bonkers, his, big, brash, noisy and garish, the only similarity being that they were both bestiaries, collections of bizarre imaginary creatures. Then I opened it up and had a look inside: I felt physically sick, it was like a kick in the stomach. I'd put a lot of love into my book. In the ...