This is fresh air. I'm Terry Gross. Stephen Merchant is best known for co-creating with Ricky

Jervais, the incredibly influential British comedy, The Office. Merchant has a new show

on Amazon Prime called The Outlaws about a group of misfits in Bristol, England who

have to complete court-ordered community service. Our producer Sam Brigger spoke with Stephen

Merchant last week. Here's Sam.

A median writer, director, and actor Stephen Merchant found inspiration for his new show,

The Outlaws, from his parents, who supervised people sentenced to community service for

more minor criminal offenses. He also set the show in his hometown of Bristol, England.

Merchant plays a hapless, recently divorced lawyer, caught by police in his car with a

sex worker. Among the other outlaws is a small-time criminal, played by the always great

Christopher Walken. Merchant co-created the show with Elgin James, and it's been picked

up for a second season. Along with The Office, Stephen Merchant co-created with Ricky Jervais

the show extras and had his own HBO series Hello Ladies. He can also be seen playing a

mutant superhero in the movie Logan and a Gestapo agent in JoJo Rabbit. But let's start

with a scene from the new show. Here, the six outlaws have shown up for their first

day of community service, and are meeting their supervisor Diane, played by Jessica Gunning.

The second voice you'll hear is Stephen Merchant's.

Some people think that community payback is an easy option, a soft touch, newsflash,

it ain't. You will repay your debt to society by working the number of hours mandated by

the court. My name is Diane Pemberley, and you're a supervisor, and I can be a good guy,

or a mean bastard. Your choice. Good guy, please. You don't choose. You said it was

our choice. It was a figure of speech. It was an entirely clear. Are you a troublemaker?

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