The Office - Series 1 and 2 (DVD)

The spoof documentary series ‘The Office,’ written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, followed the highs and lows (concentrating mainly on the humiliating lows) of life at an unimpressive paper merchants in Slough. The filming style was scarily believable, the humour was original and very successful and the characters were so enjoyable to watch as they coped with the monotony of adult life in a very dull workplace. The success of the series led to even more impressive DVD sales of the two series and it didn’t take the BBC long to release the collected set of both series in a wide cardboard sleeve in late 2003. In 2004 this was updated to an ...  Read the complete review

There are so many good DVD box-sets out there these days, that it makes sense to buy seasons in 'multi-packs' like this one, where you can get both seasons of the Office for just £27 on amazon. In 2001, the face of TV was changed forever by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, creators or 'The Office'. It's a half hour show, with six episodes in this series, and its genre is mockumentary. A 'Mockumentary' is a fake documentary - everything is supposed to be real life, but the whole thing is a created show. 'The Office' follows the day in day out life of a paper suboffice in Slough. That's a painfully poor idea for a TV show you would think, but the ...  Read the complete review

The Office is one of those rare TV programs that make you cringe and laugh at the same time. Everybody knows a David Brent and that, for me is the main reason why this works as well as it does. The Office DVD box set features all 12 episodes spanning series 1 and 2 in all their comedic glory and there are some good bonus extras on here too. Here you can relive the classic moments from the smash hit British comedy by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant ranging from the divine to the absurd. Gervais is the obvious star of the show, but he couldn't have done it without the brilliant acting performances of his co-stars, which actually includes Merchant ...  Read the complete review

It is possible that "The Office" may be regarded as the greatest sitcom for many years to come. In writing directing and starring in this work of genius, Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais propelled themselves from comedy obscurity to superstar status on both sides of the Atlantic. Initially appearing on BBC2 under a promotional blackout, as the writers had wanted, "The Office" first became a cult favourite, before word of mouth allowed the series to become a national treasure. If you've never seen an episode of "The Office", you must have been living under a rock for the past 7 years. To describe it simply, the ...  Read the complete review

This has to be "probably" the greatest comedy series, certainly of its time, and maybe all time. The series broke new ground in comedy terms as it began to spoof the plethora of fly on the wall documentaries that were assaulting our screens at the time. The team of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant have gone on to write further great stuff but I feel that this will always be remembered as their best work. The setting is Slough, just for anyone who has been living on another planet, and the story centres around the "boss from hell", David Brent (Ricky Gervais), who thinks that he is funny and popular without being either of these things. ...  Read the complete review