Vislor Antilly, known to most people worldwide as Brandy, Ricky Gervais’ loyal sidekick in
the Netflix hit After Life, has passed away peacefully at her home in Oxfordshire at
the age of 13.
In 2018, Anti was cast personally by Ricky Gervais as Brandy, Tony Johnson’s (Gervais)
trusty companion. She stood by him through thick and thin for all three seasons of the
critically acclaimed dark comedy following the death of his wife, Lisa (played by Kerry
Godliman).
The show hit the Number 1 spot on Netflix’s most-watched programmes around the globe.
Anti gained worldwide fame, causing Ricky to have to repeatedly promise fans on social
media that “the dog does not die” in the run-up to every season, earning the title of “The
World’s Most Famous Dog” for her role as a faithful friend to Tony and helping him deal with
the grief of the loss of Lisa.
Regarding Anti’s passing, Ricky said, “This is such sad news. Anti was a beautiful soul. We hit it off straight away and she helped make After Life my favourite filming experience of all time. I’m so glad that I told her a hundred times a day that she was a very good girl.”
Anti was born in April 2011 in Herefordshire, at the home of Vislor Dog Training Centre. She
became part of a four-legged family that had already appeared on the silver screen – both of
Anti’s parents, also raised by Vislor trainers Travis and Ashley Foster, appeared together
with Bane's henchmen in Christopher Nolan's $1bn blockbuster Batman: The Dark Knight
Rises in 2012. Anti visited them on set when she was only 10 weeks old and has not looked
back since.
She earned her first taste of fame alongside Tom Cruise in Doug Liman’s Edge of
Tomorrow in 2014, going on to appear with Michael Fassbender in Trespass Against Us and
George Clooney in The Midnight Sky, who then went on to cast Anti in his 2023 release The
Boys in the Boat. Her work in TV included BBC’s The Capture alongside Holliday Grainger
and Ron Perlman, ITV’s Doc Martin, where she performed stunts with Martin Clunes,
Britain’s Got More Talent with David Walliams, and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.
She also appeared on Good Morning Britain, interviewed with her owners Ashley Foster and
Beth Heale, the BBC’s The One Show twice, and Lorraine with Ricky as part of the
promotional tour for season three of After Life. She even has her own IMDB page.
Her final stunt on camera was released in July 2024, season 23, episode 2 of Midsomer
Murders, “The Debt of Lies”, playing a retired police dog who detains the murderer before
retiring in real life from film and TV at 11 years old.
