Have lost my job, need the money, so give me lots of rates please!
Have lost my job, need the money, so give me lots of rates please!
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This review is on the first series of The Office, by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchaant. Or rather, a realistic look at what is currently going on in all office-based companies throughout the country. Cleverly written, it is in fact a comedy based as a documentary that is set in an office. In other words it is not a real life documentary, but rather it is a series that has been based on what potentially could happen in real life. And having worked in a small number of office settings in the past, I can see where this comes from - as I am sure many people do, which I think is one of the main aims of the series.
The series is based on a fictional company based in Slough, known as Wernham Hogg. This is a paper manufacturing industry, and although the majority of it is in fact based within the office department/s of the organisation there are in fact a number of pieces that are based within the warehouse department.
There are in fact four main characters within the series, who are as follows:
David Brent (Ricky Gervais): the boss from hell, who you want as a boss but you don't want
as a boss. He wants to be popular yet steer the ship in the right direction, but his general appearence is that he is apparently able to not do either of these tasks. David is under the conception that his staff initially like him and must therefore trust him as their manager, but in reality this is not the case - although he fails to see it.
Gareth Keenan (Mackenzie Crook)- whose official title is team leader, although hr seems himself as being assistant manager - despite the many remarks from David Brent that he is only in fact assistant to the manager, a title that would appear to be in his mind lower than assistant manager. He thinks that David is the ultimate god, but his dedication to the job goes far deeper than this.
Tim Canterbury (Martin Freeman): the sales rep, who sadly for him has to share desks with Gareth. He would appear to be the only sane one within the organisation, and has a thing for Dawn (see below). He tries to encourage the above two mentioned people, but secretly hates both of them.
Dawn Tinsley (Lucy Davies and yes it IS the daughter of Jasper Carrott): the receptionist who is engaged to Lee (see below), but whose feelings for Tim do not come out until the Christmas specials (after the second of two series). She has better hopes and dreams that the aspirations of her fiance, but feels trapped and unable to do anything about it.
Minor characters, although may be classed as being just slightly more than this if they would like for it to be so:
Jennifer Taylor-Clarke (Stirling Gallagher): the big boss, who Davidi fears but fears to admit it.
Lee (Joel Beckett): Dawn's fiancee, who claims that his idea of a perfect wedding/ marriage/ life is a lot less that what we would consider it to be.
Chris Finch (aka 'Finchy') (Ralph Ineson): a traveling sales rep, we are unsure at first as to what he sells and/ or who he works for. But at one point during the series, there is an incident involving pornographic material whereby he is the main culprit and Jennifer Taylor-Clarke intimates that Chris Finch is not longer able to wprk for the company.
There are of course a number of other members of staff, all of whom will dip in and out at various points during the six episodes but are of no real merit to mention at this stage.
There are a number of smaller themes that are in rxistence during the course of this first series as already noted down, but despite this there is in fact a much stronger one that comes through. And this is that there is a need for one out of two branches within the company (the other being Swindon that is mentioned at regular intervals throughout) to be down sized, but it is therefore up to David to make Jennifer know that it will not be this branch that will be down graded to be incorporated in to the other one.
Through a series of unfortunate events and David being offered but subsequently turning down the offer of a job within the board of directors within the company (and effectively so we can believe taking over Jennifers's role within the organisation), the series ends on Slough taking over the Swindon branch.
Based around six episodes, each is set in about 30 minutes (half an hour). Therefore, the series is played over 3 (three) hours in all. There are numerous offers for this, so take a look around at what there is before you buy.
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It feels both inaccurate and inadequate to describeThe Officeas a comedy. On a superficial ... more
level, it disdains all the conventions of television sitcoms: there are no punch lines, no jokes, no laugh tracks and no cute happy endings. More profoundly, it'...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
It feels both inaccurate and inadequate to describeThe Officeas a comedy. On a superficial ... more
level, it disdains all the conventions of television sitcoms: there are no punch lines, no jokes, no laugh tracks and no cute happy endings. More profoundly, it'...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
BAFTA winning comedy about the Slough paper-merchant where life is stationary...David ... more
Brent (Ricky Gervais) is a petty, pompous boss who thinks he's the funniest, most popular man in the world. Pedantic jobs worth Gareth (Mackenzie Crook) agrees with h...
Winner of Best Sit-com & Best Comedy drama at the 2002 Royal TV Society this six-part ... more
comedy series is set in a Slough paper merchants. Episode 1: David Brent learns that his branch of the paper merchants might be closed down. But he promises his...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Advantages: extra footage, deleted scenes, interviews, seeing the man who wrote most of The Office in the flesh, and having all six episodes of the first series within easy reach! Disadvantages: You might spasm too much with laughing
![The Office - The Complete First Series [2001] [DVD]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78542312.jpg "The Office - The Complete First Series [2001] [DVD]")
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