# The Office (2001)

> A mockumentary following a regional paper company's clueless manager and his mundane office staff.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/2849

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 12
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy
- Created by: Stephen Merchant, Ricky Gervais
- Network: BBC Two
- Cast: Ricky Gervais, Martin Freeman, Mackenzie Crook, Lucy Davis, Stirling Gallacher, Oliver Chris, Patrick Baladi, Stacey Roca
- TMDB rating: 8.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290978/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: none
- Tone: cringe, deadpan, awkward, wry, melancholic

## What critics say

Widely acclaimed for its painfully accurate mockumentary portrait of mundane office life and Ricky Gervais's cringe-inducing lead performance as David Brent.

## Synopsis

The Office (2001-2002) is a British mockumentary workplace sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant for BBC Two. Ricky Gervais plays David Brent, the self-deluded regional manager of a paper merchant's branch in Slough, whose desperate need to be liked fuels nearly every scene. Martin Freeman plays Tim Canterbury, a deadpan salesman quietly sceptical of his boss, while Mackenzie Crook plays Gareth Keenan, an earnest and rule-obsessed colleague who competes with Tim for attention. Lucy Davis plays receptionist Dawn Tinsley, whose quiet longing gives the workplace its softer heart. The engine of the series is simple: a boss who wants to be the office's entertainer, pointless tasks, and petty rivalries that play out on camera through talking-head confessionals. Its two short seasons of twelve half-hour episodes feel like a single continuing record of ordinary office life. Shot in a handheld documentary style, the show is awkward, dry, and sharply observant, with an undercurrent of melancholy beneath the cringe. Fans of Parks and Recreation, Peep Show and Alan Partridge will find resonance in its deadpan humor and its portrait of a small-town workplace.

## Shows like The Office

- [Here We Go (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/123597)
- [Man Down (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/46811)
- [The IT Crowd (2006)](https://ember.film/tv/2363)
- [The Office (2005)](https://ember.film/tv/2197)
- [The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret (2010)](https://ember.film/tv/31169)
- [The Brittas Empire (1991)](https://ember.film/tv/227)
- [Extras (2005)](https://ember.film/tv/2558)
- [After Life (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/68362)
- [People Just Do Nothing (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/59348)
- [An Idiot Abroad (2010)](https://ember.film/tv/31304)

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