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The Office : Complete BBC Box Set - Series 1 & 2 Plus The Christmas Specials (4 Disc Box Set) [2001]
![The Office : Complete BBC Box Set - Series 1 & 2 Plus The Christmas Specials (4 Disc Box Set) [2001]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41D6DP5ZHHL._SL160_.jpg)
The second series exceeded even the sky-high standards of the first. Indeed, it ventured beyond caricature and satire, touching on the very edge of darkness. Ricky Gervais is once again excruciatingly superb as David Brent, but in this series, Brent's to-the-camera assertions concerning his management qualities and executive capabilities are seriously challenged when the Slough and Swindon branches are merged and his former Swindon equivalent Neil (Patrick Baladi) takes over as area manager. To compensate, Brent cultivates his pathologically mistaken image of himself as an entertainer-motivator-comedian whose stage happens to be the workplace. Meanwhile, Tim, who can only maintain his sanity by teasing the priggish Gareth, continues to wrestle with his yearning for receptionist Dawn Tinsley (Lucy Davis), a sympathetic character persisting in a relationship with a man about whom she still maintains unspoken reservations. As ever, it's the awkward, reality TV-style pauses and silences, the furtive, meaningful and unmet glances across the emotional gulf of the open-plan office, that say it all here. As for Brent, his own breakdown is prefaced by a moment of hideous hilarity--an impromptu office dance, a mixture of "Flashdance and MC Hammer" as Brent describes it, but in reality bad beyond description. Then, when his fate is sealed, he at last reveals himself in a memorable finale to perhaps the greatest British sitcom, besides Fawlty Towers, ever made. --David Stubbs The brilliant and devastating comedy of The Office is brought to a satisfying conclusion in The Office Special, originally a two-part Christmas special on the BBC, set three years after the end of the faux-documentary's second season. The former office manager David (Ricky Gervais) now ekes out a desperate existence as an oblivious quasi-celebrity, making awkward, humiliating visits back to the office staff he still believes loves him. Gawky Gareth (Mackenzie Crook) has risen to manager and become a petty tyrant, while the sweet but snide Tim (Martin Freeman) continues to pine for former receptionist Dawn (Lucy Davis), who fled to Florida with her fiance. When the documentary crew pays for Dawn to return for the holiday party, an unpredictable reunion looms ahead. The Office fuses scathing humor and genuine empathy, turning excruciating social discomfort into inspired satire. Fans will find this special rewarding in all respects. --Bret Fetzer
RRP: £39.99
Our Price: £16.25 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
It feels both inaccurate and inadequate to describe The Office as a comedy. On a superficial level, it disdains all the conventions of television sitcoms: there are no punch lines, no jokes, no laugh tracks, and no cute happy endings. More profoundly, it's not what we're used to thinking of as funny. Most of the fervently devoted fan base watched with a discomfortingly thrilling combination of identification and mortification. The paradox is that its best moments are almost physically unwatchable. Set in the offices of a fictional British paper merchant, The Office is filmed in the style of a reality television show. The writing is subtle and deft, the acting wonderful, and the characters beautifully drawn: the cadaverous team leader Gareth (Mackenzie Crook); the monstrous sales rep, Chris Finch (Ralph Ineson); and the decent but long-suffering everyman Tim (Martin Freeman), whose ambition and imagination have been crushed out of him by the banality of ! the life he dreams uselessly of escaping. The show is stolen, as it was intended to be, by insufferable office manager David Brent, played by codirector-cowriter Ricky Gervais. Brent will become a name as emblematic for a particular kind of British grotesque as Basil Fawlty, but he is a deeper character. Fawlty is an exaggeration of reality, and therefore a safely comic figure. Brent is as appalling as only reality can be. --Andrew Mueller
Emotionally devastating, wickedly funny, most uplifting
Review date: 2008-03-23 Rating: 10 out of 10
This show will draw you in slowly but surely, make you care for the people, then with laser precision wrench every emotion possible, from laughing so hard you can hardly breathe, choking vulnerability, cringemaking situations that make you wish the floor would open up and swallow the silence, then some of the most uplifting, punching the air payoffs you could wish to experience,
the writing, acting, and crafting of this modern masterpiece is simply sublime.
Similar Products
- Extras : Complete BBC Series 1 & 2 Boxset [2005]
- The Office - An American Workplace: Complete Season 1
- The Office - An American Workplace: Complete Season 2
- The Office: Season Three [2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- The "Office": The Scripts
Reviews
Painfully funny
Review date: 2008-03-21 Rating: 10 out of 10
I got into this late, not having watched it originally on TV & it was only because I picked it up for a song on Ebay that I followed a friend's recommendation to give it a go. Boy, am I glad I did! Having worked in an office for almost 30 years and spent some time in training too, there were some painfully familiar scenes and cringe inducing situations as well as many laugh out loud moments. And yes, though it pains me to admit it, I too have argued long & loud about various answers at quiz events. David Brent..... Basil Fawlty for the new millennium?
One Of The Best Comedys EVER!!!
Review date: 2008-02-25 Rating: 10 out of 10
Monkey!
Wow. This mockumentry is excellent. The comedy on offer here is mostly subtle but it is still really funny. Ricky Gervais acts perfectly as David Brent. He really shows off his acting skills, particularily at the end of Series 2 and in the Christmas specials.
The supporting characters are also really funny. Tim is excellent because his facial expressions say a lot without him even talking!!! Gareth is just a complete idiot and makes a fool of himself on a regular basis(Tim helps to make him look like a fool, though). And Dawn. She's not really that funny but the love story between her and Tim is fun and quite traditional.
David Brent is one of the best characters to come from the TV screen. he thinks he is really funny but he's not. And you feel sorry for him but at the same time you find him kinda annoying.... a good contrast. But overall I think he is a great character and the show is awesome!!!
great great great
Review date: 2008-01-18 Rating: 10 out of 10
this is great funny all the way through great ending of the series and christmas specials a must buy product
I prefer a flan...
Review date: 2007-12-14 Rating: 10 out of 10
Genius. David Brent - one of the best british comedy characters ever, fact. Hillarious. Theres too many favourite parts to list, but heres a good one -
Neil - "David your acting like a petchulant kid"
David Brent - "Young at heart.."
I RECCOMEND YOU BUY THIS DVD BOX SET, one of the best things you will ever do.
"Often an amature will stitch up a proffesional.." - David Brent
Thanking you - M.J.S 2007
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Lucy Davis
Mackenzie Crook
Ricky Gervais
Martin Freeman
Director(s):
Recording label: 2 Entertain Video
Manufacturer: 2 Entertain Video
EAN: 5014503150228
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 4
Format: Box set, PAL,
Release date: 2005-11-22
Number of discs: 4
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 437 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2003-01-23
Language: English (Original Language)