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Prince perfect for final episode, says Extras star

By This is London Last updated at 08:37am on 27.03.07

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Merchant hopes to persuade Prince to star in the show's Christmas special

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Extras star Stephen Merchant wants pint-sized singer Prince to appear in the final episode of the BBC2 show.

Merchant and comedy partner Ricky Gervais are planning a Christmas special.

Each episode features a celebrity cameo - Robert De Niro, Kate Winslet and David Bowie are among the previous guest stars.

Merchant told radio station Heart: "There's almost certainly going to be a Christmas special. Ricky's on tour at the moment so we haven't even begun to sit down to write it and talk about it.

"I don't know if we'll go for him but I'd love to get Prince. I'm such a Prince fan. I don't know what he's doing as we speak - is he lying in some sort of purple hammock just strumming on a guitar, being fed cherries? I have no concept.

Does he unload the dishwasher? Does he have a pair of slippers? I don't know anything about Prince.

"I would love that idea and me being six foot seven and Prince being, whatever he is, four foot one, would be comic enough."

He added: "Ricky is very useful because he's the only one who can persuade celebrities to take part. I've got no contacts whatsoever, I thought by now I'd have loads of celebrity pals."

Merchant joked about his last brush with celebrity: "I took my parents to The Ivy because I thought it'd be nice, they'd come all the way from Bristol. I'd only been there twice before and once Michael Parkinson was in there.

"I thought, if my parents see Parky, they won't believe their luck. It's their anniversary, so I take them in there and the only celebrity in there is Nadia from Big Brother.

"My Dad didn't know who she was, I had to explain. He spurted his soup out, it was so embarrassing and Nadia looked round with her giant hands."

Merchant also revealed he has been approached to pose naked for Cosmopolitan magazine.

He said: "They said, 'We've had a survey of our readers and you're one of the top choices' - yeah, right, like the readers of Cosmo have rushed out thinking, 'We've gotta get the lanky guy out of Extras. He's the man for me'. I don't want to ever look back at myself naked."