The Office

by Ben Walters

Created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, The Office is arguably the first British TV masterpiece of the new century. Gervais stars as David Brent, branch manager of a paper merchants located on a trading estate in the soulless confines of Slough, south-east England. A mock fly-on-the-wall documentary which is by turns satirical, bitter and poignant, The Office first aired in 2001, finding a solid cult audience. But its second series and the subsequent two-part Christmas special found huge mainstream popularity; when it was released on DVD, The Office became the UK's fastest- and biggest-selling television show ever in that medium. Gervais is grotesquely captivating as the smug, insecure, unreconstructed piglet of a manager whose inflated ego is belied by his incomprehensible jargon. His lieutenant and sidekick Gareth (Mackenzie Crook) is a gormless fantasist with comparable (though military) delusions of grandeur. Together they turn the workplace into a surreal circus worthy of Sartre - to the disbelief or bafflement of their co-workers, notably Tim (Martin Freeman), the cynical sales clerk, and Dawn (Lucy Davis), the wistful receptionist. Ben Walters traces the roots of The Office in the history of British David Brent is heir to a whole line of pathetic ogres, including Albert Steptoe, Basil Fawlty and Alan Partridge. Drawing on extensive interviews with Gervais and Merchant conducted specially for this book, Walters explores how the show came to be made, what it has to say about contemporary Britain, and why it achieved such spectacular (and international) success.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 26, 2005

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great critical reading of the original BBC series. The author really digs into the amount of planning that went into the characters and comes up with some great observations about what the show says about the working world today. Plus, there's an amazing description of THE DANCE that's worth the price of the book by itself.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Office is one of my favourite t.v. shows and I was keen to read some analysis of it. This did not disappoint. Walters describes the inception, creation and impact of one of the funniest British shows. He discusses what made the show clever, funny and touching using a good mix of quotes from the cast and crew and academic sources. This is a really fascinating read for fans of the show who want to learn more about it.

[Matt Scalici · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only BFI book I've read focused on a tv series rather than a movie, but THE OFFICE certainly is no average tv series. This book digs deep into not only what makes THR OFFICE so emotionally and comedic ally effective but examines some of the real life modern workplace dynamics that are captured perfectly by Gervais and Merchant.

[Manton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am such a nerd

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, and engages with international TV better than most entries in this series, which can be myopically BBC-oriented.

[Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

BFI always pleases me...