Netflix are reportedly trying to convince Ricky Gervais to film a special Christmas episode of his acclaimed comedy After Life.

The 58-year-old recently agreed to produce a third season of the show, which centres around a man struggling to come to terms with the death of his wife from cancer, for release some time in 2021.

Gervais, who previously only did two full seasons of The Office, Extras and Derek before calling time on them, has insisted that the new season will be the last

Nevertheless, Netflix are said to be hoping to squeeze him for one further episode, with a source telling The Sun: "Ricky is a huge asset to Netflix as everything he writes essentially turns to gold.

"There is such a huge appetite for After Life and it's got a massive fan base.

"The third series won't air until 2021 so there is a meeting in the diary to see if Ricky could create the Christmas special. It would just be a stand-alone episode, p­ossibly one hour if Ricky thinks it would work."

If Gervais agrees to the special, the ongoing production problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic mean that the streamer would face a tight schedule in order to get the bonus episode ready for a festive release.