Specials (The Office)
| "Christmas Special" | |
|---|---|
| The Office episode | |
| Directed by | Ricky Gervais Stephen Merchant |
| Written by |
Ricky Gervais Stephen Merchant |
| Original air date | 26 December 2003 (Part 1) 27 December 2003 (Part 2) |
The Office Christmas Specials are the two-part final episode of the British mockumentary comedy television series The Office. The specials were commissioned after the series' creators, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, announced that they would not write a full third series of the show. The first 45-minute part was broadcast on BBC One on 26 December 2003, and the second 50-minute part was shown the following evening. The episodes are presented in the style of "revisited" documentaries common on British television, in which popular "docusoaps" (e.g. Airport), are brought back for one-off specials several years after the series concluded. David Brent (Gervais), forcibly made redundant at the end of the second series, is now a travelling salesman of cleaning supplies. Tim Canterbury (Martin Freeman) and Gareth Keenan (Mackenzie Crook) are still working at the offices of Wernham Hogg, and former Wernham Hogg receptionist Dawn Tinsley (Lucy Davis) now lives in Florida, though is flown back to Britain by the documentary crew to reunite with her old colleagues.
The episodes won various awards, including two British Academy Television Awards, a Royal Television Society award, and a Television Critics Association (America) award. They were also nominated for a British Comedy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Three years after the documentary that made them famous, a different documentary crew revisits the office to see what the staff members are doing now. After being made redundant from Wernham Hogg, David Brent (Ricky Gervais) is now a travelling salesman who, following a failed single release of a cover of "If You Don't Know Me By Now," leeches off what little fame he has in a series of demeaning nightclub appearances alongside a crowd of minor celebrities. Dawn Tinsley (Lucy Davis) lives in Florida, trapped in a miserable existence with fiancé Lee (Joel Beckett), who is bouncing from job to job as they live with his sister rent-free and hidden from immigration authorities. In the office, Gareth Keenan (Mackenzie Crook) is now the general manager and Tim Canterbury (Martin Freeman) is still trapped in a job he hates with an obnoxious, pregnant desk-mate Anne (Elizabeth Berrington). Despite leaving Wernham Hogg three years ago, Brent still visits the office to see the staff and "keep up the morale". This does not sit well with Gareth or David's former boss Neil Godwin (Patrick Baladi), and it appears to the viewer that Brent misses his old job. When the programme makers offer to fly Dawn and Lee back for the office Christmas party, along with the appearance of David Brent, the scene is set for a reunion.
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