Ricky Gervais pays tribute to beloved dog from After Life with statue

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Comedian Ricky Gervais has unveiled a statue paying tribute to Vislor Antilly, the dog who played Brandy in his Netflix series After Life.

The statue, honouring the loyal companion to Gervais’s 64-year-old character, local journalist Tony Johnson, was erected on Sunday in Hemel Hempstead, where the comedy-drama was filmed.

Paying tribute to Antilly, whose death was announced earlier this year, Gervais said in a video: “Hello, Ricky Gervais here. We’re in Hemel Hempstead – in fact, we’re in Hemel Old Town Hall at the moment, because it’s raining. And the reason I’m here is to sort of unveil this beautiful statue of Antilly the wonder hound, or Anti to her friends, or Brandy as she portrayed in After Life, and she’s going to go in the square next to the After Life bench.”

A statement on Netflix’s Instagram announcing the statue said: “We’re still missing Vislor Antilly, our four-legged friend who stole every scene she was in as Brandy in After Life.” (Netflix/PA Wire)

“It’s an idea that Netflix had to sort of pay tribute to their animal stars, and I think Anti might be the best animal star of all time.

“So yeah, this is to Anti from After Life, my favourite co-star. She was a very good girl, I told her that about 20 times a day, even when she wasn’t a good girl. Sometimes she forgot her lines, and she didn’t have many, but she was still a good girl.

“So you can all come along and touch her cold nose for luck – she really is beautiful – and come and say hello good girl, still a good girl.”

After Life began in 2019, and ran for three series until 2022. It also starred David Bradley, Ashley Jensen, Tom Basden, Tony Way, Kerry Godliman, Roisin Conaty and Diane Morgan.

A statement on Netflix’s Instagram announcing the statue said: “We’re still missing Vislor Antilly, our four-legged friend who stole every scene she was in as Brandy in After Life.”

Gervais donated almost £2.5 million to animal charities from the extra profits made by platinum seating on his Mortality stand-up tour, which ran from 2024 to 2025.

Gervais’s previous tour, Armageddon, which won a Golden Globe, made £1.9 million to charity, and the total amount of donations from his four recent specials is more than £5 million.

His Netflix special Mortality, which was nominated for a Golden Globe for best performance in stand-up comedy on television, will be streamed globally from Tuesday December 30.