David Bowie's death was a "total surprise" to Ricky Gervais.

Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais

The 'Space Oddity' singer passed away in January after secretly battling cancer, and though he had exchanged emails with the 'Special Correspondents' star just two weeks before he lost his battle with the disease, he had made no reference to his illness.

Ricky said: "[His death] was a total surprise. I was emailing him two weeks before, so he must have known. He kept it from everyone.

"What dignity. He was an amazing man. It was something for him and his family. Dignity to the end.

"And amazing work to the end."

As a "fan of comedy", David hit it off with Ricky when the 54-year-old comic wrote and starred in sit-com 'The Office'.

He recalled to Radio 5 Live's 'Afternoon Edition':"After 'The Office' we sort of became pen pals.

"I hung out with him when I went to New York. I hung out with him here when he came to England."

And Ricky was honoured when his friend made a cameo appearance in his show 'Extras' and even wrote a song, 'Little Fat Man', about the comic's character Andy Millman.

He said: "He was a fan of comedy. It's funny. I was a failed pop star. He loved comedy.

"He was amazing in 'Extras'. I sent him the lyrics and I said: 'Do something quite retro like 'Life On Mars' and he went: 'Oh yeah, I'll just knock off a quick 'Life On Mars'.' "

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