Background
The show is set in a small branch of the fictitious paper company Wernham Hogg (where "life is stationery"), in the Slough Trading Estate in England. Slough is a town immortalised for its lack of appeal by John Betjeman in his poem "Slough" ("Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough/It isn't fit for humans now..."). The show has no laugh track and is in the mockumentary style, devised at a time when documentaries such as Airport and A Life of Grime were popular.
The office is headed by regional manager David Brent (Gervais) and his assistant (to the) regional manager, Gareth Keenan (Mackenzie Crook), who was also a lieutenant in the Territorial Army. Much of the series's comedic success stems from Brent, who frequently makes attempts to win favour with his employees and peers with embarrassing or disastrous results. Brent's character flaws are used to comic effect, including numerous verbal gaffes, unconscious racism, sexism and other social faux-pas.
The other main plot line of the series, and many of the more human elements found therein, come from the unassuming Tim Canterbury (Martin Freeman), whose relationship with bored receptionist Dawn Tinsley (Lucy Davis) is a major arc in the series. Their flirtation soon builds to a mutual romantic attraction, despite her engagement to the dour and laddish warehouse worker, Lee (Joel Beckett).
The theme song for the show is "Handbags and Gladrags," arranged by Big George and originally written in the 1960s by Mike D'Abo, former vocalist for the pop group Manfred Mann.
Read more about this topic: The Office (UK TV Series)
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