The Office. David Brent (Ricky Gervais)
The Office

The Office (2001)

  • TV sitcom
  • BBC Two
  • 2001 - 2003
  • 14 episodes (2 series)

A BBC documentary team film the office of David Brent, manager from hell: he's tactless and talentless, yet somehow thinks everyone loves him. Stars Ricky Gervais, Martin Freeman, Mackenzie Crook, Lucy Davis, Joel Beckett and more.

  • JustWatch Streaming rank this week: 225

Press clippings Page 4

How The Office ruined comedy

Before the first episode went out, 20 years ago today, The Office looked like just another BBC2 sitcom. Its species was still common enough in 2001. In fact, its fly-on-the-wall, "mockumentary" style seemed a little out of date, riding in on the coattails of its stablemate, John Morton's People Like Us.

Gareth Roberts, Unherd, 9th July 2021

The Office at 20: how it changed how we speak

I can't get through a sentence without slipping into Office quotes. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's sitcom changed comedy forever - but for one generation, it also transformed how we speak.

Sarah Carson, i Newspaper, 9th July 2021

Gervais clarifies comments on Office getting cancelled

The comedian said the remarks were "clearly a joke".

Clémence Michallon, The Independent, 9th July 2021

The Office gets a Polish makeover

The new show is set in a bottled water company - Kropliczanka - based in Siedlce, a town near Warsaw.

Chortle, 8th July 2021

The Office: Remembering first scathing review

Writing in the Evening Standard, Victor Lewis-Smith hated the show saying: "How this dross ever got beyond the pilot stage is a mystery".

Clémence Michallon, The Independent, 7th July 2021

Stephen Merchant on 20 years of The Office

'Would it get made today? I don't know'.

Michael Idato, The Age, 7th July 2021

The Office at 20: Why we're all David Brent now

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's office-life mockumentary first aired 20 years ago but its influence on shows from Twenty Twelve to Parks And Recreation has been immense, says Gerard Gilbert. As for its central character, that's how we live now.

Gerard Gilbert, The Independent, 6th July 2021

All of life can be found in a good sitcom

Highbrow dramas and earnest documentaries are often held up as mirrors but shrewd historians know to look at comedy.

Libby Purves, The Times, 31st May 2021

Gervais responses about whether US or UK Office is best

Responding to claims that The US Office is "bigger and better" than its Slough-based counterpart, Gervais said: "I remember once, after syndication, someone on Twitter sent me a tweet that said 'The American version of The Office is so much bigger and better than yours. How does that make you feel?'" Gervais responded: "F***ing rich."

Alex Roberts, JOE, 17th March 2021

The Office: "I'd seen enough 10 minutes in"

It's not just that it hasn't aged well it's just... not very good, writes Tom Haynes.

Tom Haynes, My London, 18th February 2021

Share this page