20 Years Of The Office: A Retrospective

British TV comedy The Office is celebrating 20 years since it premiered on 9^th July 2001. We take a look back at its success, the subsequent series, remake and film that followed and supplied the world with pure comedy cold.

The Office – 2001

The Office is set in fictional middling paper company Wernham Hogg, in the real town of Slough, England. Created as a ‘mockumentary’ by writers Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the show centred mainly around office manager David Brent, salesman Tim Canterbury, the object of his affections and long-suffering receptionist Dawn Tinsley, and the office’s insufferable ‘number 2’ in salesman Gareth Keenan

In terms of plot, the show was so focused on the characters that there wasn’t a great deal of development – in series 1, there is an arc that downsizing and redundancies will occur and the branch faces the threat of closure, but really what’s important is how this would affect the ‘will-they-won’t-they’ dynamic between Dawn and Tim, and Gareth’s unfailing loyalty in allegiance to Brent.

The reception at the time of the show’s debut was incredibly warm – debuting on a Monday night at 21:30 on BBC Two, kids were relaying jokes at school the next day while their parents simultaneously chatted about it around the proverbial water cooler at work. It was an instant hit with everyone – or almost everyone.

It’s always funny to look back at the bad reviews with the benefit of hindsight, especially when a show has been so well-loved and internationally acclaimed. The Evening Standard’s review from 10^th July 2001, said:

“It aims to capture the tedium and monotony of a nine-to-five existence, and to lampoon the pompous imbecility of the office wag, but fails miserably because parodies of dullness only succeed when they’re shorter and more exaggerated than their original models. A bore in homeopathic doses can be hilarious, as demonstrated by The Fast Show’s Colin Hunt, but a bore in real time remains simply a bore.

Gervais may be a patchily amusing stand-up comic, but he’s clearly neither an actor (frequently garbling his lines, and barely modulating his performance) nor a dramatic writer (cramming too many words into the characters’ mouths, and leaving little breathing space).” Victor Lewis-Smith, The Evening Standard.

Series 1 ran for 6 episodes, and a second series followed in 2002 with another 6 episodes, in keeping with the British comedy tradition. Series 2 ended on the devastating note that David Brent was being let go from the company, while Dawn turned down Tim’s advances.

The Office Christmas Specials

The Office Christmas Specials came in two parts in 2003, giving viewers a much-anticipated answer to the season 2 ending. In part one, Brent has spent his entire redundancy payment chasing his dreams of a music career, and trying to springboard off the ‘fame’ from the documentary. Part two gives us the perfect ending, with the resolution we’d all been craving.

The Office: An American Workplace – 2005

In perhaps the most successful American remake of a British show ever, The Office American tv series was brought to life by writers Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, along with executive producers Merchant and Gervais – who did cameo in a couple of episodes as David Brent.

The American version ran from 2005 – 2013 and was set at the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company in the real down of Scranton, Pennsylvania. The pilot episode was very closely linked to the UK version and was almost a shot-for-shot remake, however the two diverged and the series soon came into its own and found an independent path. Allegedly, writers Gervais and Merchant advised the US team to make office manager Michael Scott a very good salesman, as they are rumoured to have regretted their creative choice in making David Brent rather incompetent, and in hindsight felt they’d written themselves into a corner somewhat because of that.

The American Office ran for 192 episodes is still unbelievably successful – it was the most streamed tv show on any platform in 2020, which is quite remarkable for a series that had finished 7 years previously.

Life On The Road – 2016

13 years after the last series of the UK version, Gervais released the feature film Life On The Road which caught up with David Brent who was working as a travelling salesman and about to take his annual leave to self-fund a music tour. Reminiscent of This Is Spinal Tap in many parts, the concept followed on from the Christmas specials.

The devil is in the details, which is what Gervais undoubtedly does best: the depiction of the UK’s grassroots music scene is uncannily accurate, the songs are as horrifying as they are hilarious, while the visual costumes, props and subtle nuances in the characters reactions are so familiar, they really make the viewer feel as though they really have just popped back into the office for a visit.

While Gervais has publicly said that he doubts his brand of humour would fly in today’s climate, it looks uncertain whether there will be any further Office sequels or catch ups – Gervais is celebrating recently turning 60 and is currently busy bringing the new series of After Life into production.

One thing is certain – if the old writing teams of Gervais and Merchant or Daniels and Schur were to reunite once more, I’m sure the world would welcome it.

Also by Michelle Sciarrotta: