Ricky Gervais’ home on the banks of the River Thames is reportedly at risk of flooding that could cause “loss of life”.
The Office star, 64, plans to demolish his existing house in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, and replace it with a new £5 million neo-Georgian mansion with a tennis court and pond.
The current three-bedroom home has flooded multiple times, with Gervais sharing CCTV images of the submerged entrance and garden in his planning applications.
A potential flood could reach levels of one and a half metres, which is only slightly less than Gervais’ own height of one metre and 73 centimetres, the Environment Agency has now warned.
The agency added that a flood could be fatally dangerous to the public and emergency services without the correct evacuation procedures in place, per the Daily Mail.
Gervais - who also owns a £14.5 million home in Hampstead - commissioned flood experts who admitted there is a flood risk but said a “warning and evacuation plan will be prepared” for the comic and his longtime partner Jane Fallon.
“Flood depths on the site are expected to exceed 1 metre during the design flood event. Therefore, safe access from the site to an area outside the floodplain is not available,” the report said.
If there is a flood, the house “will be elevated to above the flood level” and “create a safe haven during a flood”.
The Environment Agency told Gervais and Fallon to register for a flood warning with the helpline Floodline, which cautions anyone close to flooded rivers or seas.
They said in a document: “We have considered the findings of the flood risk assessment in relation to the likely duration, depths, velocities and flood hazard rating against the design flood for the proposal.
“We agree that this indicates that there will be a danger for all people (e.g. there will be danger of loss of life for the general public and the emergency services).”
The agency also said the couple will “require a Flood Risk Activity Permit (FRAP) to undertake the proposed works as the main river, the River Thames, runs adjacent to the site”.
The comedian is planning to build a mansion with a home gym, drawing room, snug, reading area, and a master suite with a terrace overlooking a tennis court and pond.
Gervais’ initial plans were refused in February due to concerns from the Environment Agency and the local council regarding flood risks and climate change impact.
Revised plans were submitted in September, which included raising the ground floor and incorporating "floodable voids" to mitigate risk.
The project was further delayed after a survey revealed a maternity colony of protected soprano pipistrelle bats roosting in the loft of the current house.
The local authority said 333 soprano pipistrelle bats were recorded emerging from the dwelling back in 2023 and a “peak of 276 bats were seen to emerge in 2025”.
Gervais must obtain a special license from Natural England and adopt a "Bat Mitigation Strategy" - which will likely involve building a bat loft in his garage and erecting two bat boxes in nearby trees.
The After Life creator bought the riverside home in 2014 for £2.75million.
He also owns two apartments in New York and a sprawling nine-bedroom mansion in Hampstead, north London, with a spa, and its own gym.
Gervais bought it last March after selling his £10.8 million home that was also in Hampstead.
The author previously admitted part of his and Fallon’s decision to buy the new house was that he wanted a bigger garden that he could build a tennis court in.
“I thought the last house was the one I was going to die in,” he said in a vlog posted on X last August.
“But I didn't die and I wanted a tennis court so we had to move to a bigger house with a bigger garden just so we could get a tennis court and I just thought this is amazing, this is perfect. It's not even finished yet but I love it.
“But the other day, Jane went, ‘We can't live here when we're 80.’ So that's like a ticking clock. She said, ‘There's all these stairs.’ So I'm going to be moving when I'm 80.'
He added: “But I said, ‘Let's not move let's just move in a load of doctors, nurses and security.’
“I could have a team living inside. A driver, someone who I could play table tennis with, so that would be better.
“Moving at 80 with all this s*** again. I don't want to think about it. Jane did most of it anyway.”
