The Office

the long version

"When The Office first aired in July 2001, it attracted a tiny audience and BBC2's lowest approval rating of the year (apart from women's bowls). Some viewers even failed even to identify the series as a comedy - and not without reason." "Set in the banal environs of a Slough paper merchants and presented in deadpan 'docusoap' style, the series was built around neither one-liners nor farcical set-ups, but the painfully-observed minutiae of everyday life. Not much happened, and what did - the self-serving posturing of middle-manager and would-be entertainer David Brent, and the simmering flirtation between employees Tim and Dawn - was often excruciatingly uncomfortable to watch." "Yet two series and a feature-length special later, The Office has broken DVD sales records, won dozens of awards, played in over sixty countries and been remade by a major American network. In the first full-length study of the show. Ben Walters traces its unorthodox journey to the screen, drawing on extensive interviews with those most closely involved in its production, from novice writer-directors Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais to BBC2 Controller Jane Root. The book also explores the series' unusually potent effects, from its attention to the discontents of contemporary working life to its sophisticated melding of docusoap and sitcom conventions."--Jacket.