"Those of you who think you know everything are annoying to those of us who do. "

When Ricky Gervais first appeared on "The Eleven O'Clock Show", I thought he was occasionally funny but mostly offensive. As far as I know, he was playing a character when he was on the show, but my overall impression was "fat, racist git". I didn't find him particularly hilarious. When I heard about "The Office", the comedy set in the office of a Slough-based paper merchants, I wasn't particularly interested in ever watching it. Co-written by Gervais and Stephen Marchant, and co-starring Gervais, I just didn't expect much from it.

Then, one night, there was nothing else on tv apart from an episode of "The Office". Reluctantly, I sat down to watch it - and within about five minutes, I was completely hooked. A convert to "The Office" cause, I would now have to say that it is one of the funniest comedies to emerge in recent years. And most of its humour lies in the fact it is so damn TRUE, as anyone who has ever worked in an office can testify.

Why do I think its so true to life? Well, I can take the various elements of "The Office" and apply them to my own experience . . .

~ REAL LIFE ELEMENT # 1 - THE BOSS WHO THINKS HE'S GREAT (BUT REALLY ISN'T)

David Brent (Gervais) thinks he is the bees knees. He does everything in his power to make his staff like him, telling jokes, trying to be their friend and sometimes just out-and-out lying to them in order to gain favour. Trouble is, no one really DOES like him and, to be honest, he ain't even that good at his job!

I once had a boss like this who thought he was hilarious and told the most ridiculous jokes. He wasn't anywhere near as bad as David, admittedly, who is definitely more than a little exaggerated, but he was definitely made in a similar mould.

Gervais does an excellent job of making Brent a realistic character. In spite of the fact Brent tries so hard, he is generally a fairly unlikeable character, but we pity him in the same way we might pity, say, Gollum from "The Lord of the Rings". Brent is essentially a good guy who has an obsession with being popular, just like Gollum has an obsession for his "precious", but he really goes about it in entirely the wrong way.

~ REAL LIFE ELEMENT #2 - THE SNIVELLY SYCOPHANTIC SUCK-UP

In the case of "The Office", this is Gareth (Mackenzie Crook), a horrible lanky thing with big bulgy eyes and a pudding bowl for a haircut. A former TA man, he is now team leader at Wernham Hogg, as he takes huge pleasure in reminding everyone at regular intervals and seems to have no social skills whatsoever - he constantly makes inflammatory remarks, often without even realising it. He also thinks he is a hilarious party-animal type guy and seems to want to BE David at times. I'd say I'd met a lot of wannabe Gareths in my time - I even used to fancy one! The guy was cuter than Gareth, but he would say such dumb things - he even admitted once that HE thought he was like Gareth, but I think he thought that was a good thing. Probably Gareth would agree with him.

~ REAL LIFE ELEMENT #3 - THE JOKER WHO CRIES ON THE INSIDE

The real joker in the office of Wernham Hogg is Tim Canterbury (Martin Freeman) - he is constantly coming up with fun jokes to play on people, mainly Gareth. However, he is really not happy with life in general - living with his mum at the age of thirty, no girlfriend, and working in a really dull job. So really, the joke is on him. In this series, he decides he is going to leave work and go back to uni. But will he actually go through with it, or will fear keep him at Wernham Hogg? I think a lot of us can see something of ourselves in some aspect of Tim's personality.

~ REAL LIFE ELEMENT # 4 - THE DOOMED OFFICE FLIRTATION

In most tv programmes and films, a will-they-won't-they? relationship will eventually become a WHEN-will they? relationship. But "The Office" has a more complicated flirtation than most - between Tim and receptionist Dawn (Lucy Davies). Dawn has a fiance and yet she is perfectly happy to flirt with Tim at every opportunity, knowing that he has feelings for her and using them to her advantage. That would be fair enough, but she also can't seem to stand seeing him have fun with any other girl - she keeps him on a string of hope and every so often she'll jerk the string just to remind him that he COULD still be in with a chance. By all rights, we should hate Dawn, but she is not malicious or evil - it seems what she is doing is mostly unconscious.

I personally empathise with this situation also as I went through this kind of flirtation with my Gareth-wannabe. He had a girlfriend yet would flirt with me constantly and get really annoyed if I flirted with anyone else. However, I maintain he knew what HE was doing!

Office flirtations are always an interesting thing to watch, which is what makes the Dawn-Tim thing such addictive viewing. Everyone has been involved in, or watched, a flirtation going on in their office at one time or other, so this is definitely something which is very true to life.

~ REAL LIFE ELEMENT # 5 - THE PRACTICAL JOKES

These play a big part in "The Office" probably to emphasise how dull the workers' days would be without this light relief. The jokes are often pretty funny and original - for example, Tim puts Gareth's stapler in Jelly, because Gareth once told him that jelly scares him. David tells Gareth "You showed him a weakness - he pounced. You should know about that..." and then instructs him not to waste the jelly, but to eat the stapler out!!!

We never went that far but in one of my office jobs it was all girls apart from one guy and we gave him such hell - from giving him lots of hang-up calls, to making up a false secret admirer who bombarded him with emails for about two weeks! Practical jokes definitely make work more fun, which is why this is a critical real-life element of "The Office".

~ REAL LIFE ELEMENT # 6 - THE CRINGEWORTHY MOMENTS AND AWKWARD PAUSES

Now, as we all know, in real life, most people can't come up with witty comments at the drop of a hat. Funnily enough, in tv, especially in comedy, characters can instantly produce razor sharp comebacks with mimimum effort. But "The Office" funny though it is, is more subtle than that. Some people are allowed to come out with the funny rejoinders - Tim, for example, being the practical joker of the office, is permitted to be witty. But most humourous one-liners from the other characters are more accidental than anything else, particularly Gareth's and people actually seem to think about what they are saying before they say it.I think this is refreshing, because it really does seem far more realistic.

Then there are the cringeworthy moments, which usually involve David Brent! Sometimes he tries to be so politically correct that he accidentally goes the wrong way and makes a racist or sexist comment, much to the horror and disgust of his colleagues, who just don't know how to react when he does this. There are times when you can actually feel yourself squirming in your seat, due to the fact that the atmosphere is so awkward and uncomfortable.

This doesn't sound good. But it IS good! I promise you!

~~~ SERIES ONE OVERVIEW ~~~

At the beginning of series one, David has been told by head office that his branch of Wernham Hogg may be closed down. He instantly illustrates his capacity for lying in order to retain popularity by assuring staff there will be no redundancies. He then lies to his boss Jennifer, making up an imaginary employee who he has made apparently fired, only to be left red-faced when Jennifer discovers the truth. This redundancy threat is a continuing theme throughout the whole series, taking us to a point where David has a choice between promotion or saving the jobs of his own staff.

As well as this theme, there is also a great deal of office frolics, as jokes aplenty are played (mostly on Gareth, as usual) and David takes in a lodger called Donna who instantly disappoints him by shagging the new temp Ricky, much to David's horror. What will her parents say??? There is also a quiz-night war (compered by Gareth, the questions are mostly of the milltary and weapon variety), a training day where David reveals his previous life as a wannabe musician (to much hilarity), and a round of interviews for a new secretary (despite the imminent redundancies) where David shows just how politically INcorrect he really is.

~~~ SOME MEMORABLE QUOTES ~~~

David Brent: Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them.

Gareth: You know the phrase softly softly catchy monkey? …I could catch a monkey - if I was starving I could. I'd make poison darts out of the poison off deadly frogs. One milligram of that poison can kill a monkey. Or a man. Prick yourself, you'll be dead within a day. Or longer. Different frogs, different times.

David Brent: Look at this - "Dutch girls must be punished for having big boobs". Now you do not punish a girl, Dutch or otherwise, for having big boobs.
Gareth: If anything they should be rewarded.
David Brent: No, they should be equal.

Rowan: Gareth, quick trust exercise, ultimate fantasy?
Gareth: Hmm?
David Brent: We're just doing the ultimate fantasy, we're all doing it.
Gareth: Two lesbians probably, sisters. I'm just watching.
Rowan: OK. Erm. Tim? Do you have one?
Tim: I'd never thought I'd say this, but can I hear more from Gareth please?

Tim: We were wondering if a military man like you, a soldier, er, could you give a man a lethal blow?
Gareth: If I was forced to, I could. If it was absolutely necessary, if he was attacking me.
Tim: What if he was coming, really hard?
Gareth: Yeah, if my life was in danger, yeah.
Dawn: And do you always imagine doing it face to face with a bloke, or could you take a man from behind?
Gareth: Either ways easy.
Dawn: So you could take a man from behind?
Gareth: Yeah.
Dawn: Lovely.

Tim snatches Gareth's stapler and holds it out the window]
Tim: You stay where you are okay? I'm gonna let go, right, unless you stop acting like a fool.
Gareth: Well, you won't, so...
Tim: Well, I have, so...
[Time drops the Stapler out the window]
Gareth: What if that kills someone?
Tim: Kills somebody? Umm, well, they'll think you're the murderer. It's got your name on it.
Gareth: Why would a murderer put his name on the murder weapon?
Tim: To stop people borrowing it?
Gareth: David.
Tim: I hate the fact that you bring me down to this; really I do, I resent it.

~~~ SHOULD YOU BUY IT? ~~~

"The Office" is definitely one of those "love-it-or-hate-it" shows. I love it. My sister and brother hate it. My ex THOUGHT he hated it because he hadn't given it a chance - I made him sit down and watch it one night and he realised he loved it. Mainly because, like me, he realised just how true it was.

In theory, if you like comedies like "Spaced" (slightly more surreal but still ultimately grounded in the reality of how dull everyday life is), then "The Office" should definitely appeal!

~~~AVAILABILITY~~~

"The Office Series One" is available from:
amazon.co.uk - £9.97
play.com - £12.99
cd wow - £13.99
and from £5.99 on ebay.co.uk