The Office - The Complete Collection BBC Edition (2003)

The Office is British Tele-Comedy at Its Best.

When it comes to television comedy, The Office is arguably as sublime as Monty Python's Flying Circus and Seinfeld. It succeeds at being hilarious without resorting to punch lines, jokes, or laugh tracks. In a word, the series is superb. Created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the British television comedy series aired on BBC Two in 2001. Filmed in mockumentary style, it chronicles the nine-to-five lives of office employees in the Slough, Berkshire branch of the fictitious Wernham Hogg Paper Company. It was the inspiration for the American version on NBC, The Office - Season One starring Steve Carrell. The show features a theme song, "Handbags and Gladrags," made popular by Rod Stewart in the early 70s.

The Company's office is headed by regional manager, David Brent (Ricky Gervais) and his male assistant, Gareth Keenan (Mackenzie Crook). David Brent is the show's central character, who attempts to win favor with his employees, while unintentionally revealing his social shortcomings and trivial human flaws. The show also follows an office romance between Tim Canterbury (Martin Freeman) with indifferent receptionist Dawn Tinsley (Lucy Davis), who is engaged to a boorish warehousemen, Lee (Joel Beckett). The show's writing is witty and subtle, and the characters are truly a well-drawn bunch. To be sure, Ricky Gervais carries the show in his role of David Brent. When in comes to running a business, Brent thinks of himself as a management maverick, when in fact he is little more than an immature buffoon, who tells humorless jokes and gets himself in trouble whenever he opens his mouth. He is a master at saying exactly the wrong thing at exactly the wrong time. He is an insufferable racist, sexist, and homophobe.

This four disc DVD set includes all 12 episodes from the first and second series, and both parts of the Christmas special. Bonus features include the "How I Made The Office" documentary, deleted scenes, out-takes, a video diary, a Golden Globes featurette, and a music video. Highly recommended.

G. Merritt November 2, 2008

Never mind the Bollards!

Although I was rather familiar with the overall excellence of BBC television, having lived in England for four years, I did not realize that my favorite American sitcom "The Office" was a direct knock-off of an earlier BBC production. This boxed set explains everything, and if you look at the initial program, season one, episode one, from the BBC and US offerings, you will see that the plot lines are virtually identical. The BBC version played out after two seasons and a special, and it is all here in this one package. If you like watching Steve Carrel in NBC's "The Office" I think that you will definitely find this a worthwhile purchase. Don't forget the subtle nature of "British Humor" which is often a bit dry for US tastes (although they do get into some bits like the Royal Family playing "Twenty Questions" that would NEVER be allowed on American tv.) BBC assumes that all children/minors/those easily offended will be long gone off to bed when this comes on. October 21, 2008

Laugh and cringe, repeat. Dark comedy done right.

Maybe you've watched the U.S. version on NBC and you're wondering if the original TV series is funny, too.

The BBC series is darker, more cringe-inducing and, ultimately, far better than the U.S. series. Two seasons long with a special that serves as the season finale, The Office doesn't have a weak episode. The second season steps up the darker comedy.

The U.S. series is entering its sixth season and "jumped the shark" in season three. And that's the beauty of the original series -- the show ends before it becomes fat, silly and stupid. August 24, 2008

BBC OFFICE Review

The Office - The Complete Collection BBC Edition (First And Second Series Plus Special)
Terrible! The main character is virtually impossible to understand his English.
About got a headache trying to listen to his "foreign" language. Most other characters were tolerable. On a scale of one to ten, the u.S. version is a 10 and the BBC version is a 2. We watched three episodes and will not watch anymore! August 23, 2008

Crude, Vulgar, Funny!!!

This is a very funny show. It is similar in characters to The Office US but the language and obscenity is much more common in this one. I would only recommend this show to adults as the content is not suitable for children. If you like the US version, you will probably love this one too. August 11, 2008

More reviews at Amazon.com ...