HBO Adds Comedy From \'Office\' Co-Creator Stephen Merchant

Robbie Jack Stephen Merchant in his comedy act.

Sometimes even the members of accomplished comedy teams need to get up and stretch their legs a bit, and in the case of Stephen Merchant, those are some very long legs to stretch. Mr. Merchant, the 6-foot-7 comedian who with Ricky Gervais created the original British incarnation of “The Office,” and with him created and starred in HBO's “Extras,” “Life's Too Short” and “The Ricky Gervais Show,” will be stepping out in his own HBO series, that cable network said. The new series, called “Hello Ladies,” will star Mr. Merchant as a character named Stephen, who HBO described in an e-mail as “a gawky Englishman searching for the woman of his dreams in Los Angeles.” The network said it has ordered eight episodes of the series, for which Mr. Merchant directed the pilot, and which he wrote with Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky (whose credits include NBC's American version of “The Office” and films like “Bad Teacher”). The unlucky love life of Mr. Merchant, who has also been featured in comedy films like “Hall Pass,” tends to be a recurring theme of his humor; as he recently wrote on his Twitter account: “Attitude from Siri when I cancelled writing a text. She said ‘Ok, forget it then!' Now failing to charm virtual women as well as real ones.”