AllMovie

A wildly popular British comedy series shot in mockumentary style, The Office detailed the daily struggles of the bored cubicle-dwellers at Wernham Hogg -- a paper supply company located in the quiet English town of Slough. Their boss, attention-craving lower middle manager David Brent (Ricky Gervais), possessed a tacky and tasteless sense of humor which proved a constant source of irritation to all within earshot. Throughout the first season of the series, tireless joker Brent played the constant clown even as his office faced massive cutbacks and the employees nervously pondered the prospect of unemployment. Later, when the team's worst fears began to come true, Brent dismissed their malaise while enthusiastically gloating over his own promotion. At the onset of the second season, the Slough branch of Wernham Hogg began preparing for the inevitable merger with the nearby Swinton branch, a consolidation that would find Brent under the leadership of new boss Neil Godwin (Patrick Baladi) -- a handsome and driven leader who had previously been Brent's equivalent at the Swinton branch. When Brent's awkward welcoming speech manages to offend just about every one of the serious-minded staff of the newly arrived Swinton team -- black employee Oliver (Howard Sadler) and disabled Brenda (Julie Fernandez) in particular -- David is summarily reprimanded by Wernham Hogg heavy Jennifer Taylor-Clarke (Stirling Gallacher). As David begins to ponder the prospect that his position is fast becoming obsolete due to the competent leadership of Godwin, pretty receptionist Dawn (Lucy Davis) does her best to endure the constant barrage of sexist comments as Tim (Martin Freeman) finds the flame of his longtime torch for her somewhat doused by the arrival of Swinton transplant Rachel (Stacey Roca). It's also during this time that the once casually irritating brownnosing of office suck-up Gareth (Mackenzie Crook) becomes absolutely intolerable to the put upon fellow co-workers.