British comedies are full of catchphrases at the minute. Boring, boring catchphrases designed to generate the same cheap, predictable laughs week in week out.

The work of Ricky Gervais on the other hand is observational comedy at its finest. The first episode of the new series of Extras (Thursday 9pm, BBC2) saw Gervais’ character Andy Millman make the leap from “supporting artist” to writer/star of his own sitcom. Only Andy found network control, commercial concerns and outside interference were conspiring to distort his art to the point it no longer bore any resemblance to his original vision. Forced to recruit Keith Chegwin and incorporate banal catchphrases in an attempt to create mass-appeal, Andy must’ve struck a bittersweet chord with the dozens of writers who’ve suffered similarly.

Many words have been dedicated to lamenting the demise of the great British sitcom. An absurd obituary to be written at a time when some of the cleverest, most inventive and funniest situation comedies ever to hit our screens have been produced. Think The Office, The Royle Family, Spaced and Peep Show. Think how the genre has risen to previously unimaginable heights since the innovative crazy diamonds behind these shows tossed aside the limitations of the traditional multi-camera formula, studio audiences and laughter tracks. Think how good things have got since slick camera work and new production techniques were married to the truly brilliant writing and characterisation for which British comedy is renowned. So why has this period seen the passing of the format mourned so publicly.

Nostalgia, mainly. People hark back to the good old days when the nation was united in laughter every time Fawlty Towers or Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em was on. A time that has been consigned to history by podcasts, multi-channel TV and the polarisation of tastes. As we’ve already seen that doesn’t mean great comedies aren’t being written — quite the opposite in fact — its just that we aren’t sitting down to watch them as a nation and tend to pick and choose depending upon personal taste. What is happening however, is that ratings-obsessed executives are refusing to accept the facts and are endlessly pursuing the big mainstream family sitcom to revive past glories.

As a result we’ve had The Vicar of Dibley, My Hero, The Green Green Grass and a whole host of other programmes which are in fact the antithesis of comedy inflicted upon us. More often than not the “humour” extends to nothing more than incredibly stupid characters doing incredibly stupid things and endlessly repeating aforementioned catchphrases.

The moment when the character Andy was playing, upon emphasising his comedic mantra by giving the camera a glance, noticed the sea of catchphrase-ladden t-shirts in the audience and realised that despite his attempts to write good, innovative comedy he’d ended up with the same brainless, bland sitcom he’d intended to render obsolete was a poignant one.

Thin Ice, Hyperdrive, According to Bex — yes there have been some truly abysmal situation comedies over the past few years. In most cases the show has attempted to be too broad in the hopes of attracting a big audience. There’ve also been some absolute belters. The British sitcom isn’t dead — it’s just not to be found in the same places it used to. When was the last time BBC1 or ITV produced a truly funny, original sitcom to show before the watershed?

And what of Extras itself? Gervais’ observational style means it’s very often clever-funny rather than funny-funny but in terms of originality there’s nothing which can compete at the minute. The success of each episode is largely down to the guest stars. Some revel in their semi-autobiographical part their own whilst others get awkwardly stuck between reality and performance. Gervais and Ashley Jenson (Maggie) are worthy of all the plaudits they receive though.