The Office Turns 25: A Look Back at the Iconic Sitcom
The beloved BBC sitcom The Office is now a quarter of a century old. To commemorate the milestone, actors Martin Freeman and Mackenzie Crook are reuniting for a BBC documentary, while co-creator Ricky Gervais releases a retrospective special on his YouTube channel. Here are 25 things you didn't know about television's funniest workplace mockumentary.
From Legal Threats to Near-Cancellation
The Office nearly didn't make it past its first series. Viewing numbers were so low in summer 2001 that it almost wasn't recommissioned. Executive producer Jon Plowman said, 'Audiences were rotten. But the BBC repeated it within a few months and it doubled its figures.' Gervais recalled, 'The first series got the lowest ever BBC focus group score. Joint bottom alongside women's bowls which had been rained off.'
In 2004, Germany's ProSieben network made a comedy called Stromberg, set at an insurance company. The BBC thought it was so similar to The Office that they threatened legal action for copyright. An agreement was reached, giving Gervais and Merchant an 'inspired by' credit. Gervais joked, 'I was surprised. It's not like the Germans to just march in and take something that isn't theirs.'
Behind-the-Scenes Secrets
Martin Freeman originally auditioned for the role of Gareth Keenan, which ultimately went to Crook. 'It was only as I was leaving the audition that Ricky asked me to read for Tim,' Freeman has said. The mute caretaker who appears occasionally is co-creator Stephen Merchant's dad, Ron. 'We put him in because we thought he had a funny face,' said Merchant.
In every single episode, there is a shot of a whirring photocopier making copies from the exact same angle. The record number of takes for any scene was Tim's appraisal with David Brent, which took 74 tries because Freeman and Gervais kept corpsing. Gervais recalled, 'I changed the way that I did it for every take and Martin just couldn't cope.'
Casting and Character Insights
Olivia Colman's cameo as a journalist from Inside Paper was one of her first TV appearances. Ruth Jones was considered for the role of Dawn, according to casting director Rachel Freck. The Canadian French-language edition features a manager named David Gervais, in homage to Ricky.
Gareth Keenan is based on a bloke Gervais went to school with. 'That's why he's stuck as an adolescent. I had a list of about 50 ludicrous things that this 14-year-old kid told me,' Gervais said on the SmartLess podcast. Crook's original audition notes read: 'Very understated, very funny and inventive. Consistent. I think he could do it. Haircut?' After the second round, she wrote: 'Cast. Hair clause.'
Memorable Moments and Trivia
The staff training episode is a standout, with both Gervais and the late Ewen MacIntosh naming it their favorite. The late Matthew Perry praised it as 'possibly the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life.' Brent's cringe-inducing dance was improvised. Gervais said, 'It wasn't rehearsed or choreographed. I just went berserk for 30 seconds, then had to have a sit-down for 30 minutes.'
The moment when Tim takes off his microphone at the end of series two is a favorite of both Gervais and Merchant. 'The moment when Tim unhooks his mic and tells Dawn how he feels but we never hear what is said. I thought it was a perfect way of using the fake documentary style to tell our story,' said Merchant.
Ricky Gervais's YouTube special is released at 6pm on Wednesday 8 July. Mackenzie Crook and Martin Freeman Remember ... The Office airs on the same night at 10pm on BBC Two and iPlayer.
