Ricky Gervais could ‘owe Karl Pilkington an apology’ after findings from a recent study

Ricky Gervais could ‘owe Karl Pilkington an apology’ following the findings of a recent study.

And no, it’s not an apology for putting him into some absolutely mad situations for An Idiot Abroad.

This will make you feel old though – it’s nearly been 12 years since the last episode of the iconic documentary comedy show aired on TV.

Gervais and Pilkington have worked on various other projects together too, with the ‘idiot’ previously producing the comedian’s radio show with Stephen Merchant. He created a range of features for the broadcasts, such as ‘Monkey News’, and made cameo appearances on the show.

And now, fans are bringing up an old clip of a conversation.

Wonder if Ricky will apologise. (Neil Mockford/FilmMagic)

In the video, Gervais says: “They say an infinite amount of chimps with an infinite amount of typewriters will type the complete works of Shakespeare, and you couldn't grasp that.”

And Pilkington says with his classic straight face: “It wouldn’t happen. It wouldn’t happen – and I think you know it wouldn’t happen but you say it would, to annoy me.”

But people are now saying he’s been ‘vindicated’ as a new study backs him.

Two Australian mathematicians are questioning the infinite monkey theorem that, if given an amount of time, a monkey pressing keys on a typewriter would eventually write the complete works of William Shakespeare.

The study instead found that the amount of time it would take would be longer than the lifespan of our universe, so while it’s mathematically true, it’s ‘misleading’.

“It is not plausible that, even with improved typing speeds or an increase in chimpanzee populations, monkey labour will ever be a viable tool for developing non-trivial written works,” the study says.

Pilkington the real 'genius'. (Found Image Holdings/Corbis via Getty Images)

And users reacted to the findings on social media, writing: “Justice for Karl Pilkington!”

Some even asked if he was behind the study, as people called it a ‘big day for Karl Pilkington’.

“Karl Pilkington – vindicated!” others wrote as one said: “Hey @rickygervais, I think you owe Karl Pilkington an apology!”

Fans even said the bloke was ‘years ahead of his time’ as they put: “Thinking about Karl Pilkington on this day.”

“Holy sh*t, Karl Pilkington was right,” one said as someone even called him a ‘genius’ as he was ‘right all along’.

And one quite smartly pointed out: “This is technically monkey news.”