The Office (UK TV series)
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| The Office | |
|---|---|
| Image:Theoffice.jpg Opening Title Screen </small> | |
| Genre | Comedy Mockumentary |
| Running time | 30 minutes (approximate) |
| Creator(s) | Ricky Gervais Stephen Merchant |
| Starring | Ricky Gervais Martin Freeman Lucy Davis Mackenzie Crook |
| Opening theme | Handbags and Gladrags |
| Country of origin | UK |
| Original channel | BBC |
| Original run | July 9, 2001–December 27, 2003 |
| No. of episodes | 14 |
Widely acclaimed as the most successful BBC comedy of this decade, two six-episode series were made, along with a pair of 45-minute Christmas specials. As well as being shown internationally on BBC Worldwide channels such as BBC Prime, BBC America and BBC Canada, the series has been sold to broadcasters in over 80 countries, including ABC in Australia, TVNZ in New Zealand and the pan-Asian satellite channel STAR World, based in Hong Kong.
The Office shares some themes in common with the 1999 movie Office Space, mainly the banal and dissatisfying nature of office jobs.<ref>DVD Times: Office Space review</ref> The show also shares themes with another social satire created by Gervais and Merchant, Extras, namely social clumsiness, the trivialities of human behaviour, self-importance and conceit, frustration and desperation and fame.<ref>rickygervais.com: Heeeere's Ricky</ref>
Contents |
[edit] Background
The show is set in Slough, a satellite town of London that the DVD blurb describes as "dreary", in a small branch of the fictitious paper company Wernham Hogg (where "life is stationery"). The show has no laugh track and is in the mockumentary style, devised at a time when documentaries such as Airport and A Life of Grime (which follow people performing their jobs) were popular.
The office is managed by David Brent (Gervais) along with his assistant, Gareth Keenan (Mackenzie Crook), a lieutenant in the Territorial Army. Much of the series' comedic success stems from Brent, who frequently makes attempts to win favour with his employees and peers with embarrassing or disastrous results. Brent's character flaws are used to comic effect, including numerous verbal gaffes, unconscious racism, sexism and other social faux-pas.
Other characters include the unassuming Tim Canterbury (Martin Freeman), whose relationship with bored receptionist Dawn Tinsley (Lucy Davis) is a major arc in the series. Their flirtation soon builds to a mutual romantic attraction, despite her engagement to the dour and laddish warehouse worker, Lee (Joel Beckett).
The theme song for the show is "Handbags and Gladrags", arranged by Big George and originally written in the 1960s by Mike D’Abo, former vocalist for the pop group Manfred Mann.
[edit] Main characters
The Office is essentially a character-based comedy, following around the people who work in the office environment. While being more of an ensemble piece than star-driven, four characters in particular are the primary focus of the show:
[edit] David Brent (Ricky Gervais)
David Brent is the general manager of the Slough offices of the Wernham Hogg paper merchants. He considers himself to be not only a successful maverick in the business world but also a Renaissance man, talented in philosophy, music and most importantly, comedy. He likes to believe that he is everyone's friend, a stand-up comedian of rare talent, and the most well-liked boss in history. Unfortunately for him, he is none of these. He is, in fact, petty, pompous and snide, and this is proven time and time again as he bumbles around the office (always hovering around the camera) telling unfunny jokes, performing hackneyed impressions and generally getting himself into trouble by talking before thinking, and then proceeding to dig himself in deeper. Brent considers himself to be a modern, politically correct man, but he often displays patronising (and at times offensive) attitudes towards women, ethnic minorities, homosexuals and disabled people. However, he is not the boss from hell — just a rather sad but essentially well-meaning man whose job means much more to him than it probably should.
[edit] Tim Canterbury (Martin Freeman)
Tim is a sales rep at Wernham Hogg. Unlike David, he actually is funny, likeable and popular. Also, unlike David, he is unpretentious and very much aware of the crushing pointlessness of what it is he does for a living. He is much more intelligent than his job demands. He dropped out of university and, at 30, lives with his parents, doing a job that's beneath him. However, similar to David, there seems to be little chance of him actually freeing himself from the trap that is Wernham Hogg, largely due to his own reluctance to leave. As such, he maintains his grip on sanity by flirting with Dawn (on whom he has a serious crush) and playing childish practical jokes on Gareth. He is, quite possibly, the nicest and most likeable person in the office.
[edit] Gareth Keenan (Mackenzie Crook)
Gareth is Tim's deskmate — and his arch nemesis. Unlike Tim, Gareth - the definition of a jobsworth - is humourlessly devoted to his job. He is obsessed with the army, frequently boasts about his experiences in the Territorial Army, and annoys Tim most of the time, usually unintentionally. He has been given the role of Team Leader, a role with few perks and absolutely no authority that has been given to him primarily to get him to take on extra work for no payment — but this doesn't stop him from lording it over everyone else in the office anyway. He never lets Tim borrow any of his personal possessions, although Tim usually ends up stealing and hiding them. He believes himself to be world-wise, sophisticated and charming to the opposite sex (which he generally isn't, although sometimes women seem to accidentally stumble upon him). He is also under the impression that he and David Brent are buddies, a view which Brent sometimes does not seem to share. Brent's favourite way of undermining Gareth is to remind him he is "Assistant to the Regional Manager" rather than (in Gareth's words) "Assistant Regional Manager".
[edit] Dawn Tinsley (Lucy Davis)
Dawn is Wernham Hogg's receptionist, and David Brent's dogsbody. It is frequently she who has to put up with Brent's attempts at humour and social interaction. Her life is made even more thankless with her engagement to Lee. She is a friend of Tim, and they can usually be found hanging around the reception desk flirting with each other and thinking up practical jokes to play on Gareth. Like Tim, she is intelligent and aware of the dullness of her job. She used to illustrate children's books but, due to work and her fiancée, finds herself with no time to do this.
[edit] Secondary characters
Several other recurring characters, although not central to the episodes, have made their mark on office life. These include:
"Big" Keith Bishop (Ewen Macintosh): Keith works in the accounts department, which is perhaps fitting because he's like a human statue. Slow-talking, emotionless and suffering from eczema, he says few words. When he does speak, his comments can be surprisingly and alarmingly disturbing. He likes eating scotch eggs and watching Peak Practice.
Chris Finch (Ralph Ineson): David's so-called 'best friend', "Finchy" is probably the only character in the series who is genuinely cruel. He is a confident, openly sexist, rasping-voiced northerner with a natural flair for bullying others with swift, humiliating putdowns (with Brent being his usual target). He likes to dominate conversations and is successful with women, but shows a humourless vicious streak when he loses the staff quiz in series one. David acts as his lackey, laughing at his jokes and attempting to ride his coat-tails into the limelight. Finch repays him with disdain.
Jennifer Taylor-Clarke (Stirling Gallacher): David's boss in the first series. Jennifer is a serious-minded professional, and David's behaviour and comedy-driven style of management are shown to be puerile and ineffectual by contrast. David calls her Camilla Parker-Bowles — "Not to her face, of course."
Lee (Joel Beckett): Dawn's fiancé, who works in the company's warehouse. She met him in school and they have been together since. Whereas Dawn has dreams and yearns to be playful, Lee is humourless, unromantic and casually and obliviously dismissive of Dawn's ideas of being an illustrator. His idea of an amorous proposal was a four-word notice in the newspaper - to save money. It is clear from an early stage that Dawn stays with him out of a fear of loneliness rather than real love - Lee is safe and dependable. Lee is also more manly and physically imposing than Tim, Dawn's other potential interest, and for that reason Tim finds him intimidating.
Neil Godwin (Patrick Baladi): David's boss in the second series. Originally David's counterpart at the Swindon branch of the company, Neil was promoted ahead of him when David failed a medical examination. Neil is young, charming, professional and energetic. He is a more competent manager than David, has a better relationship with the staff and, to pour vinegar into the wound, finds it easier to make the staff laugh. Brent is hugely resentful and jealous of him, and makes occasional (and largely unsuccessful) attempts to either undermine or rival him.
Oliver (Howard Saddler): One of the series two intake from Swindon. Oliver is good natured, tolerant, easy-going and quiet, which is lucky for him as he is the only black person working in the office. As such he is the target for most of David's well-meaning but hideously misguided attempts to show what a politically correct and racially tolerant man he is.
Rachel (Stacey Roca): Another of the series two intake from Swindon. Rachel is bubbly and attractive — a fact not lost on either Gareth or Tim. She and Tim start a relationship, making Dawn somewhat melancholy.
Brenda (Julie Fernandez): Another of the former employees of the Swindon branch, Brenda is a wheelchair user, which naturally brings out the worst in David. During a fire drill, he and Gareth attempt to carry Brenda down the stairs but ultimately, as they see it as being too much effort for a mere drill, abandon her on the way down. Brenda is not impressed by David's patronising behaviour. She, like Oliver, is another character whose purpose is to highlight the gap between David's vision of himself as a modern enlightened man and the reality of his ignorance and thoughtlessness.
[edit] Episodes
[edit] "The Office Values" and "Realising Potential"
In 2004, Microsoft UK commissioned two 20-minute corporate videos featuring David Brent being interviewed by Jeff (Stephen Merchant), a Microsoft employee who becomes increasingly exasperated by Brent's antics. The ongoing theme is Brent's obvious resentment at the company's success. Brent also appears to believe he has what it takes to become the next managing director of Microsoft and continually drops hints to that effect. While not on general release, the videos emerged on the internet in 2006. They were posted on both YouTube (from which they were later removed) and Google Video.[2] The clips also appeared on certain peer-to-peer networks. Microsoft was unhappy with the leak, stating that the videos "were never intended to be viewed by the public".<ref>BBC News: Microsoft unhappy at Gervais leak</ref>
[edit] Awards
In January 2004, The Office won the Golden Globe Award for "Best Television Series: Musical Or Comedy", beating nominees Arrested Development, Monk, Sex and the City and Will & Grace. It was the only British comedy to be nominated for a Golden Globe in 25 years, and the first to ever win one. Ricky Gervais was also awarded the Golden Globe for "Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series: Musical or Comedy" for his role.
The series won the Best TV Comedy award, and Gervais the Best TV Comedy Actor award, at the British Comedy Awards 2002.
In 2005, the series' concluding two-part special was nominated for two Emmys in the categories of "Outstanding Made for Television Movie" and "Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special" [3]. In February 2006, Gervais and Merchant announced that they would be returning to the series to write an episode for the third season of the American version.[4]
The American version of The Office won an Emmy in 2006 for best comedy, with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as its executive producers.
[edit] Cast
[edit] Main cast
- Ricky Gervais as David Brent
- Martin Freeman as Tim Canterbury
- Mackenzie Crook as Gareth Keenan
- Lucy Davis as Dawn Tinsley
- Patrick Baladi as Neil Godwin
- Ralph Ineson as Chris Finch
- Stirling Gallacher as Jennifer Taylor-Clarke
[edit] Minor cast
[edit] Series One & Two
- Joel Beckett as Lee
- Ben Bradshaw as Ben
- Nicola Cotter as Karen Roper
- Jamie Deeks as Jamie
- Vincent Franklin as Rowan (training facilitator)
- Jane Lucas as Sheila
- Ewen Macintosh as Keith
- Emma Manton as Emma
- Ron Merchant as Gordon
- Alexander Perkins as Ralph
- Phillip Pickard as Phillip
- Peter Purves as Himself (cameo)
- David Schaal as Glynn
[edit] Series One only
- Sally Bretton as Donna
- Oliver Chris as Ricky Howard
- Angela Clerkin as Jackie
- Yvonne D'Alpra as Joan
- Robin Hooper as Malcolm
[edit] Series Two only
- Julie Fernandez as Brenda
- Tom Goodman-Hill as Ray
- Jennifer Hennessy as Jude
- Matthew Holness as Simon (the computer geek)
- Rachel Isaac as Trudy
- Stephen Merchant as Oggie
- Tony MacMurray as Tony
- Stacey Roca as Rachel
- Howard Saddler as Oliver
[edit] Trivia
- In a nod to the show, a minor character featured in the TV series Lost mentions during one of the flashback scenes in the season one episode "Homecoming" that her father is "buying some paper company up in Slough". Lost creator JJ Abrams is a fan of Ricky Gervais and had previously employed him in an episode of his earlier series, Alias. Perhaps ironically, in the American version, the equivalent of Gareth says of meeting the warehouse staff, "remember in Lost, when they met the Others?". Later in the series, the same character asks another character "What is the DHARMA Initiative?" In an interview, J.J. Abrams revealed he would be directing an episode of the American The Office.
- The Office is the first Gervais & Merchant sitcom to be commisioned by the BBC. Even though neither of them had directed, written or acted before, the show's low cost and a well-received demo tape were both major contributing factors for the commission.
[edit] References
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[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Ricky Gervais' Website
- The Office at the Internet Movie Database
- Official BBC Website
- British Sitcom Guide
- British Film Institute Screen Online
- The World of The Office Unofficial fan site covering pretty much everything.
- Free Love on the Free Love Freewayde:The Office
fr:The Office (version britannique) nl:The Office no:Kontoret pl:Biuro (serial telewizyjny) pt:The Office (Reino Unido)
