The Office ''The Office'' is the title of several mockumentary sitcoms based on a British series originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as '' The Office'' in 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as manager and primary charac ...

'' is a

British sitcom A British sitcom or a Britcom is a situational comedy programme produced for British television. British sitcoms have predominantly been recorded on studio sets, while some include an element of location filming. Live audiences and multi-camera ...

that was originally broadcast by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

in the United Kingdom from 2001 to 2003 as the original series of ''

''. The television programme was created and written by

Ricky Gervais Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, television producer and filmmaker. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office (British TV series), The Office'' (2001–2003) ...

and

Stephen Merchant Stephen James Merchant (born 24 November 1974) is an English comedian, writer, director, and actor. He was the co-writer and co-director of the British TV comedy series ''The Office (British TV series), The Office'' (2001–2003), and co-writer ...

; the former also played the main character, manager

David Brent David Brent is a fictional character in the BBC television mockumentary ''The Office'', portrayed by the show's co-creator, co-writer, and co-director Ricky Gervais. Brent is a white-collar office middle-manager and the principal character of t ...

. The series is set in the

Slough Slough () is a town in Berkshire, England, in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2021, the ...

office of a fictional paper merchant, Wernham Hogg, and is presented in a

mockumentary A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...

format depicting the everyday lives of its employees. Brent tries to be a friend and an entertainer as well as a boss, and is often annoying as a result. His sycophantic assistant Gareth Keenan (

Mackenzie Crook Mackenzie Crook (born Paul James Crook, 29 September 1971) is an English actor, director, comedian and writer best known for his roles in television and film. He gained widespread recognition for portraying Gareth Keenan in the British sitcom '' ...

) annoys and is often pranked by sales representative Tim Canterbury (

Martin Freeman Martin John Christopher Freeman (born 8 September 1971) is an English actor. Among other accolades, he has won two Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Freeman's most ...

), whose relationship with receptionist Dawn Tinsley (

Lucy Davis Lucy Clare Davis (born 17 February 1973) is an English actress known for playing Dawn Tinsley in the BBC comedy ''The Office'' (2001–2003), Hilda Spellman in the Netflix series '' The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina'' (2018–2020), Dianne i ...

) is a major

story arc A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of a plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing narrative, storyline in episode, episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strip ...

, despite her engagement to warehouse worker Lee ( Joel Beckett). Minor characters include droning and crass office worker Keith Bishop (

Ewen MacIntosh Ewen Douglas MacIntosh (25 December 1973 – 19 February 2024) was a Welsh actor known for his role as Keith Bishop in '' The Office'' (2001–2003). Early life MacIntosh was born in Merionethshire, Wales on 25 December 1973. He was educated ...

), Brent's brash and sexist friend Chris Finch (

Ralph Ineson Ralph Michael Ineson ( ; born 15 December 1969) is an English actor and narrator. Ineson's notable film roles include Amycus Carrow in the final three ''Harry Potter'' films (2009–2011), William in '' The Witch'' (2015), the title characte ...

) and Brent's bosses Jennifer Taylor-Clarke ( Stirling Gallacher) and later Neil Godwin (

Patrick Baladi Patrick Bashir Baladi is an English actor. He is best known for playing Neil Godwin in the BBC sitcom ''The Office'', Michael Jackson in the Sky 1 drama '' Stella'', and Stephen Holmes in the ITV thriller '' Marcella''. Early life and educa ...

). The programme ran for two series of six half-hour episodes each: the first aired from July to August 2001, and the second from September to November 2002. A two-part

Christmas special Christmas themes have long been an inspiration to artists and writers. A prominent aspect of Christian media, the topic first appeared Christmas in literature, in literature and Christmas music, in music. Filmmakers have picked up on this wealth o ...

aired on 26 and 27 December 2003. There are 14 episodes in total. Series 1 and 2 were originally broadcast on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

, but the Christmas episodes were moved to

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

to increase viewership following the previous series' popularity. Both series, as well as the Christmas specials, have been released on DVD in

Regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

1, 2 and 4. The programme has won numerous awards, including two

British Comedy Awards The National Comedy Awards (known as the British Comedy Awards from 1990 to 2014) is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom, celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year. The British Comedy Awards (1 ...

and two

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...

. ''The Office'' has also been remade in several countries, of which the American adaptation has been the most popular and longest-running. Episodes were shot on tape, then filmised in post-production to achieve the documentary-type atmosphere. The deleted scenes on the DVDs are presented raw, pre-filmization.

Series overview

Episodes

Series 1 (2001)

Series 2 (2002)

Christmas specials (2003)

After the conclusion of the second series, creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant stated that no more series would be filmed. However, they did write and film two additional episodes, 45 and 50 minutes in duration, which first aired in the United Kingdom on

on 26 December (

Boxing Day Boxing Day, also called as Offering Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part ...

) and 27 December 2003.

''The Return of Brent'' (2013)

As part of

Red Nose Day 2013 Red Nose Day 2013 is a fundraising event organised by Comic Relief. A number of run-up events took place and the main event consisted of a live telethon broadcast on BBC One and BBC Two from the evening of Friday 15 March 2013 to early the follo ...

and to celebrate ten years since the end of ''The Office'', a one-off special short episode catches up with David, the former manager of the Slough branch of Wernham Hogg Paper Merchants.

References

External links

* List of * List of * * {{The Office UK Office, The (British TV series) Office, The