Guardian Unlimited's experiment with the Ricky Gervais podcast appears to have been a success; in its second week the show has reached number one in both the US and UK iTunes podcast charts.

The podcast was downloaded 180,000 times in its first week, knocking Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles off the top spot.

The half-hour weekly shows are free to download. They offer original skits and comedic rambling from Ricky Gervais with co-writer Stephen Merchant and former Xfm radio show producer Karl Pilkington.

Ricky Gervais commented: "When I heard that we were the number one podcast, my first thought was that it wasn't a fair fight as the Office is shown in more than 80 countries around the world.

"Steve's first thought was 'why aren't we charging for it' and Karl's first thought was 'is a chimp allowed to win the lottery?'"

Guardian Unlimited editor-in-chief Emily Bell said the site will be introducing new, related projects in 2006.

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