The Office

The Office is a British television comedy series written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephan Merchant.

The series is set in Slough in a small branch office of a paper merchant, which is run by the odious David Brent. Together with his assistant, the weekend warrior Gareth Keenan, Brent manages the office in a way that will be depressingly familiar to many corporate workers. Desperately trying to emulate his best friend and mentor, the smooth-talking salesman Finchy, Brent tries to be his employees' best friend and tyrant to equal degrees. Of course, he fails miserably.

Other denizens of the office include the bored receptionist Dawn, who although engaged to the rather dim Lee is constantly flirting with Tim, perhaps the most likeable character in the show; Ricky, a young college graduate on his first job, and Donna, one of David Brent's friends' children who stays with him while going out with Ricky.

The series' humour largely revolves around the verbal gaffes of Brent and his minion Keenan. There is no laugh track, and various touches make it resemble a low-budget fly-on-the-wall documentary, such as talking-head pieces to camera (often Brent with a bit of self-aggrandisation) and angles that suggest a crew trying to keep out of everyone's way whilst capturing the goings-on. Widely acclaimed as the funniest, if bleakest, show in years, two six episode series of The Office have been made, amidst rumours that the show should be exported to the United States. Those rumours came true when NBC announced in 2003 that they are retooling the show for the US market.

Gervais and Merchant have decided that there will be no further series of the show, but two 45 minute episodes have been made for Christmas 2003 which should tie up some of the loose ends.