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Ricky Gervais: Voice of the Jilted Office Generation
First aired in 2001, The Office ran for just two seasons with an additional Christmas special. The premise for the show was simple; set in Slough - a grey, dreary satellite town of London not famed for its exuberance, the show followed the day to day working lives of the employees of Wernham-Hogg, a fictional paper company whose slogan is "Where Life is Stationery".
The show was filmed in a faux-documentary style, (known as mockumentary) which coincided with a number of real documentaries about jobs in Britain that were being aired at the time such as 'Airport' and 'A Life of Grime'.
It was the incredible realism of The Office which made it such a hit with viewers; almost everyone could relate, at least in some extent, to the drudgery of office life and the various characters such as David Brent, (played by Ricky Gervais, the co-writer of the show). Brent is the general manager and boss of the Slough branch; he's immature, petty and snide - though in his own mind he is cool, popular and hilarious. Much of the show's humour comes from Brent's social faux pas - such as his unconscious racism and sexism.
The Office shares common traits with the 1999 cult hit movie Office Space - in that both productions focus on the banal and unsatisfying nature of mundane office jobs, and indeed The Office makes a subtle nod to Office Space, in its reference to a former employee of Wernham-Hogg going by the name of Peter Gibbons - the name of the lead character of Office Space.
The Office met massive critical acclaim in the UK, which then led on to other versions of the show being made in different countries, most famously the US version; but also in France (Le Bureau), Quebec Canada (La Job) and Germany (Stromberg). The German producers of Stromberg originally claimed they had created the show independently of The Office; it was only after the BBC threatened legal action that credit and an undisclosed financial agreement was reached with Gervais and co-writer Steve Merchant.
The secret to The Office's success was that it summed up life for so many employees in the UK. From office cubicles in Cardiff to serviced offices in London, The Office seems to have perfectly captured many of the amusingly undesirable aspects of the workplace most common to the people of Britain.