Ricky Gervais returned to Netflix on August 7, 2026, with Alley Cats, a six-episode adult animated comedy following a gang of foul-mouthed feral cats navigating survival, friendship, and mortality in a gritty urban setting. Gervais created, wrote, and directed the series alongside co-director Elliot Dear, with animation handled by Blink Industries. He also voices lead cat Gus, joined by a cast including Tom Basden, Diane Morgan, Andrew Brooke, David Earl, Kerry Godliman, Jo Hartley, Natalie Cassidy, and Tony Way. While the show leans heavily on Gervais’s trademark crude humor, its music does a lot of quiet emotional lifting — each episode tends to close on a needle drop that shifts the tone from raunchy to reflective.
Unlike a traditionally scored production, Alley Cats is built almost entirely around licensed tracks personally selected by Gervais, drawing from artists spanning folk-rock, new wave, and arena rock. Below is a complete breakdown of every confirmed song, what’s known about the composer credit attached to the series, and what remains unconfirmed.
Alley Cats Soundtrack Details
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Series Title | Alley Cats (also billed as Ricky Gervais: Alley Cats) |
| Director | Ricky Gervais (creator/director); Elliot Dear (co-director) |
| Studio/Production | Derek Productions Limited, Shush Creative, Blink Industries |
| Platform | Netflix |
| Premiere Date | August 7, 2026 |
| Composer Credit | Andy Burrows (attached per Film Music Reporter and WhatSong; series relies primarily on licensed songs — see note below) |
| Record Label | Not officially confirmed — no dedicated soundtrack album has been released |
| Total Confirmed Songs | 7 licensed tracks identified across all six episodes |
| Episodes / Runtime | 6 episodes, approximately 15–20 minutes each (roughly 90–100 minutes total) |
Alley Cats Soundtrack Overview
Alley Cats does not have a commercially released soundtrack album. Instead of a conventional score, the series is scored almost entirely through licensed music, curated to underline the gang’s philosophical bickering and the show’s recurring swings from vulgar comedy into unexpectedly tender territory. Reviews from NME and Empire both independently pointed to this pattern, describing the show’s habit of closing episodes on songs from artists like James Taylor, Cat Stevens, and Coldplay after a run of crude dialogue.
Because there is no official album, this guide functions as a verified song-by-song reference rather than a tracklist pulled from a label release. No entry for Alley Cats currently exists in FMDB’s database, which is consistent with the absence of a formal soundtrack release — that null result has been treated as a confirmed data point rather than a research gap.
Who Composed the Alley Cats Soundtrack?
Andy Burrows is the composer credit attached to Alley Cats, confirmed independently through Film Music Reporter’s tag archive (which listed Burrows alongside the series in an August 2, 2026, post under its TV Scoring Assignments category) and through WhatSong’s composer field for the show. Burrows is a British singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and former Razorlight drummer who has built a parallel career as a screen composer, earning a BAFTA Craft nomination for his work on The Snowman and The Snowdog. He is a frequent collaborator of Gervais’s, having composed the original score for the Netflix series After Life and contributed music to the film David Brent: Life on the Road.
That said, multiple entertainment outlets covering Alley Cats — including NME, Empire, and Micropsia — describe the show’s music entirely in terms of licensed tracks from outside artists, with no mention of an original instrumental score. It’s likely Burrows’s role centered on incidental music, transitions, or light underscoring around the licensed needle drops rather than a full original score in the traditional sense, but the exact scope of his contribution to the finished episodes is pending official confirmation from Netflix or a credits listing.
Alley Cats Official Tracklist
No numbered official tracklist exists, because Alley Cats has not received a soundtrack album release on any platform. What follows instead is the complete list of confirmed licensed songs identified across the season, compiled from episode-level source verification rather than label-issued track numbering.
| # | Song Title | Artist | Episode |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Thousand Miles | Vanessa Carlton | Episode 1: “Lost” |
| 2 | You Can Close Your Eyes | James Taylor | Episode 2: “Havoc” |
| 3 | Oh Very Young | Cat Stevens (Yusuf) | Episode 3: “Kids” |
| 4 | Je t’aime… moi non plus | Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin | Episode 4: “Date Night” |
| 5 | There Is a Light That Never Goes Out | The Smiths | Episode 4: “Date Night” |
| 6 | O (Hidden Track) | Coldplay | Episode 5: “Mum” |
| 7 | Dance the Night Away | Van Halen | Episode 6: “Home” |
A separate cue, “Beneath the Mountain” by composer Sophie Doyle Ryder, appears flagged in Episodes 1 and 2 on WhatSong’s verified-moment log but is not corroborated by any other source in this guide’s sourcing list. It is treated as a pending/unconfirmed cue rather than a confirmed licensed song — likely incidental scoring rather than a featured needle drop, though that distinction has not been independently verified.
Score Highlights
- “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” — The Smiths (Episode 4): Gervais has spoken about the involved process of clearing this track, and it soundtracks a key emotional beat late in “Date Night.” One review described the sequence as functioning almost like a standalone music video moment, suggesting it’s the season’s most deliberately staged musical set piece.
- “Dance the Night Away” — Van Halen (Episode 6): NME’s review singled out this needle drop as a rare visual high point in the finale, which suggests the sequence was built with the song specifically in mind rather than dropped in as background texture.
- “O (Hidden Track)” — Coldplay (Episode 5): Placed in the season’s most maternally themed episode, “Mum,” the choice of one of Coldplay’s quieter, more melancholic tracks likely reinforces the episode’s emotional pivot toward Gus’s family history, though the show’s exact intent behind the placement is inferred rather than officially stated.
- “Oh Very Young” — Cat Stevens (Episode 3): Beyond its thematic fit for an episode titled “Kids,” this placement is part of a broader pattern the production embraced — several outlets noted the show leaned on Cat Stevens tracks specifically as a wink to its feline cast.
Alley Cats Licensed Songs / Needle Drops
Episode 1 — “Lost”: Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles” plays as the gang walks through town with the newly discovered kitten, searching for her home.
Episode 2 — “Havoc”: James Taylor’s “You Can Close Your Eyes” scores a quiet scene at the gang’s squat, as Gus and the kitten wind down a conversation about death and memory.
Episode 3 — “Kids”: Cat Stevens’s “Oh Very Young” is confirmed as the episode’s featured licensed track, in line with its child-and-family-themed storyline.
Episode 4 — “Date Night”: Two songs are confirmed here — Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin’s “Je t’aime… moi non plus” and The Smiths’ “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out,” the latter tied to a key emotional beat that Gervais has publicly discussed clearing the rights for.
Episode 5 — “Mum”: Coldplay’s “O (Hidden Track)” plays during the episode centered on Gus visiting his ailing mother.
Episode 6 — “Home”: Van Halen’s “Dance the Night Away” soundtracks a standout moment in the season finale as the gang closes in on reuniting the kitten with her family.
Andy Burrows Filmography
| Year | Title | Type | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | The Snowman and The Snowdog | Animated Short | Composer (BAFTA Craft nomination) |
| 2016 | David Brent: Life on the Road | Film | Music Contributor |
| 2019–2022 | After Life | Netflix Series | Composer |
| 2026 | Alley Cats | Netflix Series | Composer (credit attached; scope of original score pending confirmation) |
Where to Listen to the Alley Cats Soundtrack?
Since Alley Cats has no dedicated soundtrack album, there’s no single official playlist to stream on Spotify or Apple Music. Each confirmed song, however, is available through the original artists’ own catalogs and albums — Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles,” Cat Stevens’s “Oh Very Young,” The Smiths’ “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out,” and the rest can all be found individually on major streaming platforms. Unofficial fan-curated playlists compiling the show’s needle drops have also started appearing on Spotify, though these aren’t affiliated with Netflix or the production.
FAQs
Who composed the music for Alley Cats?
Andy Burrows is the composer credited with the series via Film Music Reporter and WhatSong, though the show is built primarily around licensed songs rather than a traditional original score.
How many songs are in the Alley Cats soundtrack?
Seven licensed songs have been confirmed across the six episodes of Season 1.
Is there an official Alley Cats soundtrack album?
No. As of publication, no soundtrack album has been released for the series, and it does not appear in FMDB’s database.
When did Alley Cats premiere?
Alley Cats premiered on Netflix on August 7, 2026, with all six episodes released simultaneously.
What are the key songs featured in Alley Cats?
Notable tracks include The Smiths’ “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out,” Van Halen’s “Dance the Night Away,” Coldplay’s “O (Hidden Track),” and Cat Stevens’s “Oh Very Young.”
Where can I watch Alley Cats?
The series streams exclusively on Netflix.
Does the Alley Cats soundtrack include any original score?
A composer credit (Andy Burrows) is attached to the series, but reviews and coverage describe the music almost entirely in terms of licensed tracks. Whether an original instrumental score exists alongside the needle drops has not been officially confirmed.