It doesn't take Columbo to uncover numerous clear examples of light-fingeredness by kleptomaniac 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 magpie and when it comes to stealing material sent in to publishers, agents or production companies in good faith, he crosses the line into criminality. Alongside the blatant rip-off of my manuscript in the making of Flanimals , there are question marks hanging over the originality of other major productions. Past thievery also includes Extras, which was directly stolen; concept, title, setting, delivery, lock, stock and barrel from Australian Director Darren Ashton's award winning 1999 short film The Extra . In fact Gervais seems to have a bit of a soft-spot for Australia. Either that or he thinks they won't notice him nicking their stuff because they're upside down. Aside from the dubious origins of Extras , he's already been suc

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, (now out of print). 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