Ricky Gervais is set to play a local newspaper journalist in a new sitcom released next month.

The comedian, who brought pompous paper merchant David Brent to life in The Office, is set to play a man working on a free newspaper in the series, called ‘After Life.’

However his character, called Tony, is nothing like the self-important office manager who famously toasted his own promotion while announcing redundancies for his staff.

Instead, the depressed hack contemplates ending his own life after the death of his wife before resolving to say and do whatever he wants for the rest of his existence.

The programme will air on subscription service Netflix from 8 March.

Netflix’s blurb for the series reads: “A devastated widower adopts a ‘nothing to lose’ approach to life that causes him to make unexpected new connections.”

Posting his own description on Twitter last month, Mr Gervais wrote: “My wife’s dead. I can’t wait to join her. My dad has dementia. His nurse hates me.

“I work for a local, free newspaper, and deal with morons all day. I’m going to get drunk and take out my anger on every s****y person I meet before I kill myself.”