Timeline

A timeline of the history and development of the shows, and the careers of the three main performers.

1961

• June 25th: Ricky Gervais is born in Reading

1972

• September 23rd: Karl Pilkington is born in Manchester

1974

• November 24th: Stephen Merchant is born in Bristol

1998

• January: Ricky and Steve begin their first show (Series 0) on Xfm.
• August: Ricky and Steve take voluntary redundancy from Xfm

2001

• September: Ricky and Steve return to Xfm with a new show, with Karl Pilkington as their producer. Series 1, and the show as we know it, begins.

2002

• May 4th: Ricky and Steve take a break to film the second series of The Office, marking the end of series 1.
• August 24th: Ricky and Steve return, and Series 2 begins.
• August 31st: An early version of Rockbusters is played for the first time

2003

• January 25th: Monkey News makes its debut.
• August 16th: Series 2 ends after 51 weeks, as Ricky and Steve go off to film The Office Christmas specials. The show's future hangs on whether Karl decides to return.
• November 1st: The show does return, as Karl now has Mondays off, and Series 3 begins

2004

• January 17th: Series 3 draws to a close.

2005

• May 28th: The show returns with the six-week Series 4.
• July 2nd: The last show of the series, and of any Xfm series ends early as Ricky will be introducing REM at Live 8.
• December 5th: The first series of 12 weekly Podcasts begin, free on Guardian Unlimited
• December 24th and 31st: Ricky, Steve and Karl stand in for Jonathan Ross on BBC Radio 2 over the Christmas period.

2006

• January 23rd: The first excerpts of Karl's Diary are read in Podcast episode 8.
• February 20th: Podcast Series 1 draws to a close.
• February 27th: Podcast Series 2 begins, 6 weeks in length and no longer free, available on iTunes or Audible.
• April 4th: Podcast Series 2 ends.
• August 22nd: After a break in order to film Extras Series 2, the Podcasts return with Series 3, the same deal as Series 2.