Starring: Ricky Gervais , Lucy Davis
Directed by: Ricky Gervais , Stephen Merchant
Produced by: Anil Gupta
Written by: Ricky Gervais , Stephen Merchant
The Office is the comedy phenomenon that reveals the cringeworthy truth about life in the white-collar world. Follow middle manager David Brent and his “family” as they work hard, play hard, laugh, cry, fall in love and perform a dance routine that fuses Flashdance with MC Hammer.
Item Number: 12912
Exclusive documentary - How I Made The Office
Deleted scenes
Video diary
Outtakes
The Office: Closed for Business documentary
Golden Globes featurette
If You Don’t Know Me By Now - full song and video
The making of Freelove Freeway
Director’s commentary
Series 1
A brilliant and cringe-makingly funny ‘mocusoap' set in a paper merchants in the heart of middle England. David Brent is a lower-middle-ranking manager in charge of a lower-middle-ranking office. His workplace is the antithesis of TV's glossy law firms full of bright professionals. Instead of mutual respect and intelligent dialogue, David's office is a place of backfiring practical jokes, failed flirting and bad showing off.
Series 2
David Brent returns to work in the office that took Britain by storm and grabbed middle-managers by their balls. His 'unique' management style in this multi-award winning spoof fly-on-the-wall documentary had office workers squirming on their sofas. We find out who has kept their jobs (just how Brent managed to keep his remains a mystery). The Slough and Swindon branches have now merged, and David has a suave, sophisticated and obviously popular new boss, not his type at all. Neither are the Swindon staff, a serious, professional group. One is black and another disabled, giving Brent a perfect opportunity to display the most appalling, unthinking prejudice. And, with Tim still pursuing receptionist Dawn, a water cooler romance might be on the agenda.
Series 1
Episode 1 - Head office is threatening to close its Slough branch and the threat of imminent redundancy hangs heavy over
the entire staff. Far from making cuts, however, David Brent is showing a new temp, Ricky, around the office and
assuring everyone that their jobs are safe. A practical joke to raise morale only succeeds in annoying everyone.
Meanwhile, Gareth and Tim are locked in battle over who should have the stapler.
Episode 2 - Donna arrives at the office on work experience. After the obligatory innuendo of the introductions, her first day
is dominated by a dirty picture of her boss that’s been emailed around the office.David Brent is disgusted; it degrades
women. But who did it? Gareth commandeers the meeting room as his own office and – after extensive investigations
– the wrong man is eventually accused.
Episode 3 - It’s Tim’s birthday – but plans to celebrate are quickly scaled down when manager David Brent points out that it’s
also the annual quiz night. Will Brent and his mate Finchy (from the University of Life) be able to beat the educated
young pretenders,Tim and Ricky? Things quickly become over-competitive, and it all comes down to a tie-break which
Tim and Ricky eventually win. But Brent and Finchy don’t give up that easily and Tim learns a valuable lesson about
letting the boss win.
Episode 4 - Rowan, a management consultant, has come to Wernham Hogg to give the staff a special training day. As usual,
Brent thinks having a laugh is more important than work and soon starts to undermine him, even fetching his guitar
and regaling the staff with an excruciating song and tales of how he had once been in a band, who were supported
by "a little-known Scottish outfit called Texas". Meanwhile, Dawn is weeping silently after splitting up with her fiancé,
Lee, and Tim is questioning his whole life and decides that he is wasting his time in a bad job.
Episode 5 - Even though some staff may be made redundant, Brent decides to take on a new secretary. Naturally, he chooses
the pretty young woman.Tim is suffering, having asked out Dawn without realising she was back with her boyfriend.
David is trying to find out whether Donna, the work-experience girl in his care, has slept with someone in the office.
But all is forgotten as they go on a drunken night out to Slough’s premier night-club, Chasers, where David fails to
impress his prospective new secretary Karen.
Episode 6 - It’s judgement day on whether the office is to be downsized. Jennifer, from head office, tells Brent it’s bad news –
the Slough branch is to close. But though there will be job losses, his position is safe. Moreover, he is to get a
promotion, running the new and bigger combined branch. Will Brent sell his team down the river? At the party that
night, he makes the big announcement...
Series 2
Episode 1 - The Slough branch of Wernham Hoggs is hosting a small party to welcome the new intake from Swindon following
the merger.David Brent introduces his new boss, Neil, who used to be his equivalent at Swindon. Jennifer, his old boss
is also there for the handover. Brent is confident his welcome speech will be a huge hit – it contains some reliable
jokes and some of his finest impressions. If that fails, there’s the one about the royal family and a black penis...
Meanwhile,Tim is behaving officiously with Dawn, and Gareth has acquired a talking cookie jar.
Episode 2 - Gareth is determined to pull the new girl, Rachel, but she is more interested in Tim. After a practice fire drill during
which he leaves Brenda and her wheelchair halfway down the stairwell, David Brent completes the annual staff
appraisals and tries to boost his popularity with the straight-talking “Swindon lot” with a lunchtime trip to the pub. It’s
far from the jolly affair he hoped it would be, especially as none of the original Slough staff attend except Keith. And
he’s simply no match for new boss, Neil. Frustrated and fed up, he sulks in his office, where Dawn finds him just as
she’s about to go home...
Episode 3 - David Brent is visited by Ray and Jude (Tom Goodman-Hill and Jennifer Hennessy), who represent a company
who organise business seminars.They want to hire him as an expert speaker. It’s well-paid, but better than that, there’s
the kudos of being recommended. He can’t resist bragging about it at Trudy’s birthday party. Neil has baked a cake,
Finchy turns up and things seem to be hotting up between Tim and Rachel,much to the despair of Gareth and Dawn.
As for the birthday girl, she is doling out kisses to all the males in the office – all the males, that is, except David.
Episode 4 - Tim and Rachel are openly canoodling in the office. Gareth can’t believe that she prefers “Fisher Price man” to him.
Simon (Matthew Holness), the IT engineer, has control of Tim’s computer.While Tim flounders under the strain of
trying to communicate with a terminal nerd, Gareth finds common ground in the minutiae of Bruce Lee and Chuck
Norris films. Meanwhile,David Brent is preparing for his first “gig” on motivational techniques. He is paying Dawn £100
to act as his assistant, which brings him into conflict with an increasingly dissatisfied Neil. At the business seminar, David
(dressed in T-shirt and baseball cap) bids his audience chill out to Tina Turner’s Simply The Best.
Episode 5 - It’s Comic Relief day and Wernham Hogg is doing its bit for charity. Dawn is selling kisses, Gareth is on a sponsored
hop, and Keith looks great in his Ali G outfit. Neil and Rachel are the hit of the day with their Saturday Night Fever
routine, prompting David to boast of his superior dancing skills “I've sort of fused Flashdance with MC Hammer.”
Urged to perform, the reality is wonderful to behold. But just as the day is about to reach its highlight for David, Neil
and Jennifer have some bad news for him – he is to be made redundant.
Episode 6 - David Brent is trying to convince himself that redundancy doesn’t matter. A reporter is writing a feature on him for
the trade magazine, Inside Paper, and he still has his well-paid motivational lectures to fall back on – until Ray and Jude
arrive to give him more bad news. Meanwhile, Tim turns down Neil’s offer to make him temporary manager, and
suggests Gareth would be a better option! He is preoccupied with Dawn, who has handed in her notice to accompany
her fiancé Lee to America for six months. He has finished with Rachel and finally plucks up enough courage to talk to
Dawn – but what will be her answer?
| David Brent | --- | Ricky Gervais |
| Tim | --- | Martin Freeman |
| Gareth | --- | Mackenzie Crook |
| Dawn | --- | Lucy Davis |
| Neil | --- | Patrick Baladi |
| Rachel | --- | Stacey Roca |
| Trudy | --- | Rachel Isaac |
| Lee | --- | Joel Beckett |
| Keith | --- | Ewen Macintosh |
| Oliver | --- | Howard Sadler |
| Brenda | --- | Julie Fernandez |
| Glynn | --- | David Schaal |
| Chris Finch | --- | Ralph Ineson |
| Jennifer Taylor-Clarke | --- | Stirling Gallache |
Written and Directed by Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant
Produced by Ash Atalla
Executive Produced by Anil Gupta , Jon Plowman
BAFTA® Awards
2004 – Best Comedy Performance - Ricky Gervais
2004 – Situation Comedy Award – Ash Atalla, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant
2003 – Best Comedy Performance - Ricky Gervais
2003 – Situation Comedy Award – Ash Atalla, Anil Gupta, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant
2002 – Best Comedy Performance - Ricky Gervais
2002 – Situation Comedy Award – Ash Atalla, Anil Gupta, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant
British Comedy Awards®
2002 – Best Comedy Actor – Ricky Gervais
2002 – Best TV Comedy
2001 – Best New TV Comedy
Golden Globes®
2004 – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy – Ricky Gervais
2004 – Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy