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Although not The Office movie they'd hoped for, fan's were not disappointed with David Brent's return.

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Attempting to go to the cinemas with the intention of reviewing this was tough because Ricky Gervais is my favourite comedian. Maintaining that open mind when the comedy naturally tickles you put me in a situation where I felt like I should not review it. Anyway, here we go.

If you are expecting David Brent to be different from The Office (2001) "documentary" days then you will be obviously mistaken. David is older, yet he has not changed. Despite the breakthrough scene where the character had a successful date at the office Christmas party and told his ex-manager to "f**k off," he still has not learnt to mingle in social groups. He is still trying to impress too hard with his conversation and humour to the point he trips himself up and socially excludes himself. The difference is that this David Brent does not want an office job anymore. He wants to do what he loves, which is music.

Even though the story is years ahead of The Office series Ricky Gervais manages to continue the life of Brent without ruining the character. His misplaced arrogance and attempts to insert himself into every social situation is cringeworthy, but because of that reaction, it is hilarious. I found myself on many occasions covering my mouth in disbelief at the situation. The premise of the story is that David Brent has been working as a sales rep and in his spare time he has put together a plan to put a band together and do a tour using his money. The day has come where he decides to take an extended holiday and do the tour with an unconvinced band behind him.

There is almost an air of sadness around the character this time because he has this enthusiasm which pushes him to believe failure is not an option. This tour is more like a pub tour, yet he thinks it will land them all a record label. Also, the social exclusion Brent faces in this film is much more extreme than in The Office, but it works because within the comedy you witness a David Brent handling that awkwardness of touring without having any real close relationships.Ricky Gervais graces the screen with his usual awkward faces and other expressions which have you laughing more than the jokes. It feels weird seeing David Brent in a different world to the one we are accustomed too, and I guess in a way you miss him in the world of being a boss in the office. In a way, he still acts the same as the boss. He walks in bubbling with energy cracking jokes left, right and centre, despite the lack of laughs, and then you realise you have missed this. You have craved the awkwardness, and this type of comedy Gervais can bring.

As for the jokes, yes, some pushed the boundaries, which you can always expect from the comedian, and I am sure it will not be to everyone's taste, but if you like David Brent, then you will enjoy this film. That I can guarantee. And the whole film is not just full of jokes. Other elements serve as serious plot points and make you question David Brent as a person. Is he that bad? Or is there more behind it? Ricky Gervais has this way within his material of allowing the comedy to lead but thickening it with social messages that you were not expecting to become part of the plot.

As for the casting, I think the right people were chosen for the band to tour, but the most noticeable performance came from Doc Brown, who plays Dom. He is an unknown rapper who awkwardly does not sit properly in the band, and David Brent believes he is managing him. Doc provides a performance that shows slight sympathy for David throughout while trying to make it on his own. You could argue that the performances from other characters could have come across a lot stronger however this is solely about David Brent, and arrogantly that's what he wants the "documentary" to be.

As for the structure of the film, it plays like The Office, where you have a sequence of scenes followed by a direct interview with the characters. It does well to interview a range of different characters to get their thoughts on David Brent, whether it's someone from the band or his colleagues from the office. The interviews did not feel as useful as they do in The Office, especially in a 90-minute feature, and the funniest ones came from Ricky Gervais himself. The songs made for this film performed by the band are chucklesome, and if rumours are true that he may do a comedy tour with this band as David Brent, then I would not hesitate to get a ticket.

Overall Ricky Gervais managed to bring back a character we thought we'd never see again, and he made the character as socially excluded as ever. As for continuing the story? I do not believe David Brent would be harmed if his story stopped here, and who knows what Ricky Gervais has in store for us in the future, but if he left it here, then he does so by making a decent comedy about the controversial character.

It's far from perfect, but I do not feel any fan expected it to be. Gervais has brought David Brent back in an acceptable way in a storyline that is not over-egged and places a reality on the character. There is much to be learnt about David Brent in the film which you will soon realise.
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Do not tell me that you do not like films. I can't survive a day without coffee. Critic, Podcaster, Founder of Ready, Steady, Cut!

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Review - David Brent: Life on the Road | Ready Steady Cut

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Attempting to go to the cinemas with the intention of reviewing this was tough because Ricky Gervais is my favourite comedian. Maintaining that open mind when the comedy naturally tickles you put me in a situation where I felt like I should not review it. Anyway, here we go.

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Fans were curious as to the whereabouts and backgrounds of some of the characters after the show concluded, so the BBC contacted Gervais and Merchant for answers.

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Ricky's favourite clip

﻿You sent in thousands of questions about The Office and we put a broad selection to the creators - Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Take a glimpse into the minds of the award-winning writing duo as they talk about their inspirations, favourite clips and...Stephen's dad.

Remind yourself of one of the funniest moments in The Office EVER as Ricky Gervais chooses his number one clip, which contains his favourite line from the whole series. Stephen Merchant tries to stop him spoiling the clip by quoting the line....To view more of their favourite clips take a look here where you can find tenth anniversary interviews with Ricky and Stephen and members of the cast...

Question from Paul Morries, West Midlands: Why was the office set in a paper merchants?

Ricky and Steve: We wanted an industry that everyone knows exists but most people know very little about...

Question from Linny Baker, Portsmouth: You say it's finished but what happens if you have loads more good ideas for episodes of The Office?

Ricky and Steve: We promise you we won't have any more good ideas.

Question from Debbie Madders, Southampton: I've heard many rumours that Orlando Bloom has appeared in The Office (most say that he was in Series 1, Episode 5), is this true? And if it is, what scene can we see him in?

Ricky and Steve: As far as we know, he didn't. If he did, he was probably an extra in the Chasers nightclub scene but that seems unlikely.

Question from Adam Wilson, Beverley: Was 'Free Love Freeway' written especially for The Office or was it one of Ricky Gervais' own from "the band days" before he started acting?

Ricky: No, it was written especially for you guys.

Question from Chris, Sydney: Why didn't Tim accept the manager's position when Neil offered it to him?

Ricky and Steve: Because he felt that if he took the job, he would be at Wernham Hogg forever.

Question from Tom Walsh, Adelaide, Australia: Was Brent's dance in 2nd series episode 5 rehearsed, or did you just make it up as you went?

﻿Ricky and Steve: It wasn't rehearsed. I just went berserk for thirty seconds, then had to have a sit down for twenty minutes.

Question from Stephen Civic, London: I loved the ending of the final episode. Was it a difficult decision to give it a basically happy ending - did you have any qualms about it?

Ricky and Steve: For as long as we can remember, we intended the show to have a happy ending but we wanted it to be moving and uplifting without being corny or mawkish. When we were making it we discovered that's much harder than we thought. Glad you think it worked though, thanks.

Question from Lucy Porchester, Manchester: The scripts to the Christmas episodes got sent to some random person who sold them to a newspaper. What was going on there?

Ricky and Steve: Someone at the BBC accidentally sent a script or a schedule or something to the wrong address. The woman who mistakenly received it did what any thoughtful, law-abiding citizen would do and sold it to the Mail On Sunday.

Question from Harry K, Wigan: Does David Brent have a family? He mentioned his Dad once but what about brothers and sisters and mum?

Ricky and Steve: His mum is dead, his dad is in a home and he has a sister.

Question from Eleri Forbes, Bristol: Has David ever had a relationship before? Has he ever been married or been in a long term relationship? Who? When? How many?

﻿Ricky and Steve: He's had a couple of short-lived relationships but never got married.

Question from Greg Innes, Fife, Scotland: Did David Brent join Wernham Hogg as the regional manager or did he start off as the 'tea boy' and work his way up?Question from Greg Innes, Fife, Scotland: Did David Brent join Wernham Hogg as the regional manager or did he start off as the 'tea boy' and work his way up?

Ricky and Steve: He worked his way up.

Question from Peter Pelisek, Windsor, Ont. Canada: Why did David's old band split up? Does he still keep in touch with his old band mates? Did something interesting happen (such as a foul up with women or drugs) or did the group just fade away?

Ricky and Steve: They got fat and old and had to concentrate on their proper jobs.

Question from Billy Bobs, England: How the heck did Dawn ever get with Lee?

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿Ricky and Steve: They started going out at 15 and just settled into a comfortable routine. Marriage and kids seemed inevitable.

Question from Ken, Melbourne, Australia: Can you please tell me the Artist and title of the opening song?

Ricky and Steve: It's called 'Handbags and Gladrags'. It was made famous by Rod Stewart, written by Mike D'Abo and recently covered by The Stereophonics. Our version is sung by a guy called Fin.

Question from Rich Bolesworth, Nuneaton: Why does Gareth like David so much?

﻿Ricky and Steve: Initially it was because David is in charge. Gareth respects rank. And he's a creep.

Question from Andrew, Swansea: What do you think Gareth would be like in bed?

Ricky and Steve: Keen.

Question from Mark, Sydney: My question is about the woman on the phone to Gareth in series two who asks him to bring 'the toys'. Is she the same woman that Gareth dances with and shows off his martial arts moves to in series one?

Ricky and Steve: No she's not, it's a different girl. Gareth is surprisingly successful with women, mainly because he has low standards.

Question from Phil Barnard, Griffith NSW Australia: Is the Caretaker that appears every now and then looking blankly at the camera really Stephen Merchant's Dad? Did he ask to be in the show or did you ask him?

Steve: Yes, he is my dad and we put him in because we thought he had a funny face.

Question from Emma Bullimore, Chelmsford: What does Peter Purves think about his cameo appearance in the training episode?

﻿Ricky and Steve: Peter was an absolute professional and a joy to work with.

Question from Alan King, Liverpool: What other comedians or writers or characters influenced the humour of the show?

Ricky and Steve: Laurel and Hardy, This Is Spinal Tap, The Simpsons, The Larry Sanders Show and Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads.

Question from Sam Thomas, Cornwall: Were you scared about putting racism into your show?

Ricky and Steve: We don't think any of the characters are really racist. We thought it was interesting to write about the hypocrisy of people who think they're politically correct and the resultant awkwardness when they try too hard.

Question from John Arnold, Farnborough: Did you stick religiously to the scripts or was most of it improvisation and if so, how hard was it to perform?

Ricky and Steve: It was 95% scripted, with some improvisation here and there.

Question from Dave, Aiketgate: Is the set an actual working office or just a set created in a studio?

Ricky and Steve: It's a real office that happens to be part of Teddington Film Studios. For a while it was the production offices of 'Today With Des and Mel'.

Question from Stuart Griffiths, Cardiff: I'd just like to know how hard it was to capture the whole thing in a documentary style?

Ricky and Steve: It's harder than you may think because people are so familiar with the documentary style and so you have to work extra hard to make it seem convincing. It's a fun challenge for the actors though and allows them a lot of freedom.

Question from Midge, Suffolk: What things helped and what got in your way when you were trying to get the show off the ground?

Ricky and Steve: We'd never written or directed anything before, and Ricky was largely unknown, but we'd made a short video showing off David Brent, so the BBC got an idea of what to expect. If we'd had only a script to show people, it may never have happened.

Question from Jonathan Stanley, Banbury: Who made the inspired choice to include 'Halifax Howard' in the Christmas specials? Was he a primadonna?

Ricky and Steve: Howard was an absolute professional and a joy to work with.

Question from Stuart Somerville, Birmingham: What was the record number of takes for one scene?

Ricky and Steve: Seventy four. It was the scene where Brent gives Tim an appraisal. We kept laughing and couldn't get through the dialogue.

Question from Roland Duarte, Dover: What recent comedy shows around (if any) do you think have been especially good?

Ricky and Steve: Curb Your Enthusiasm, Little Britain, Peep Show.

Question from Callum, Harlow: What is your favourite single moment in the office?

Ricky and Steve: We both like the bit where Tim takes his microphone off at the end of series two.﻿

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The Office - An interview with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant - BBC Two

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﻿You sent in thousands of questions about The Office and we put a broad selection to the creators - Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Take a glimpse into the minds of the award-winning writing duo as they talk about their inspirations, favourite clips and...Stephen's dad.

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The scathing review of Life on the Road provided by the Guardian

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He's been through a breakdown, a Prozac addiction and hours of therapy, but David Brent hasn't changed a bit. The world, however, has. It's a harder, meaner place, with less time to indulge an amiable idiot.

That's the premise of Life on the Road, Ricky Gervais's uneven, but not entirely unsuccessful spin-off of The Office. Written, directed and starring Gervais, it's a rehash that neither develops the character nor betrays him. It simply assumes that we still share his weaknesses and therefore care about the fool.

And we do - just. Brent was always, at heart, a dreamer. A man who means well and acts stupidly. Life on the Road works largely as a reminder of Gervais's skill with this character's tics - the whinnying laugh, the lip bit too late, that drowning stare to camera as he realises what he's just said. At its best it carries the tradition of the little man struggling against his own confines. At its worst - some weak gags about fat people, a couple of moments where Brent's too stupid for his back story - it's small, shabby and outdated.

It's a few years after the filming of The Office and the world has turned on Brent. He now works as a sales rep for Lavichem, a cleaning products supplier that sells scourers, dish cloths and tampons ("One size fits all ... No ... it doesn't actually"). At his former workplace Wernham Hogg, Brent was largely tolerated as a harmless nuisance, but this new office is full of Finchy s: aggressive salespeople who openly bully him. There's a pseudo-Gareth (Tom Bennett) and a sort-of Dawn (Mandeep Dhillon), but the majority of the Lavichem workforce is hostile; less tolerant of outcasts and misfits. There's less room for Brent in a workplace where individuality is counterproductive. While he was boss he could afford to dick about. At Lavichem his "spark" - as one sympathetic character calls it - can't just be ignored, it needs to be snuffed out.

In Brent's mind, escape lies down the open road and a series of gigs with his band, Foregone Conclusion. The reality is, of course, crushingly different. The band are hired hands who hate him. The gigs are sparsely attended disasters. The open road is the M25, a near-complete loop. And he's paying for the whole thing - the tour bus, the hotel rooms, the new Sergio Georgini jacket and the backstage bowls of licorice all-sorts - out of his own pocket.

The scenario makes sense, but there's something tired in the execution. As he's done often before, Gervais uses the tour and - to some extent - the film ( and the promotion around it) to channel his own dormant rock star ambitions. So there's very long performances of Forgone Conclusion songs (Equality Street, Lady Gypsy, Native American) which, while funny, do hammer on. The music ("New romantic, but modern. A bit Bublé, a bit David Essex") is horrible. The lyrics are almost exclusively about calling for compassion: for black people, indigenous people, gays and the disabled ("Help the awkward through the door"). It's in terribly bad taste, but that's Brent. By appealing for understanding, he's really appealing for people to understand him.

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Mockumentary ... Ricky Gervais, left, in The Office in 2001 - with the Wernham Hogg crowd including Martin Freeman, Mackenzie Crook and Lucy Davis. Photograph: Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar

It's clear from early on that this is a Ricky Gervais solo outing. The moderating influence of his Office co-creator Stephen Merchant (not involved - something about "schedules") is missing, leaving a patchy comedy that lacks discipline. The mockumentary format, used so brilliantly in the original show, goes for a wander once the action gets going. We're never sure when the fictional camera crew is in attendance. There's a heavy reliance on talking heads to sway us in Brent's favour, particularly from rapper Doc Brown, who reprises his Comic Relief turn as Dom, an aspiring MC who's been sucked into Brent's orbit. Dom, a decent guy who can see the desperation behind Brent's bluster, is the film's Tim. A nice bloke who basically wants the best for Brent, even if he's often the butt of his assumptions about race. In one difficult, but pointed scene, a very drunk Brent insists Dom call him "my nigger". Dom, appalled, acquiesces because the cameras are rolling. Again - all Brent wants is validation. To Brent - as adrift in his friendship with a black man as he is delighted by it - this is the ultimate acceptance.

All of this relies on the audience liking, or even loving, David Brent as much as they once did, on giving him as many chances as Gervais has. It's a problem that's acknowledged twice: once via a scene in which a local DJ doesn't know who Brent is, but says he was on a show "like The Call Centre" (a genuine workplace documentary that aired years after The Office); the next in a scene where Foregone Conclusion are booked to play a student union's Shite Night ("the shittest bits of culture of the last 20 years"). The threat of a younger audience not getting David Brent is real, as is the danger that those of us who were there the first time might tire of him. Brent's no Partridge and Gervais isn't Coogan. At the same time, you can't just throw a situation at him as you could with, say, Edina and Patsy. Gervais and Merchant built this character too well.

There were braver things that Gervais could have done with the character. The bravest being leaving him where he was. The Office - two series, two Christmas specials - was finished near-perfectly. It's a shame to see the joke reheated. Still, the world isn't getting any cleverer. All of us - from the boss who signs off an email about redundancies with details of his holiday plans to the Hollywood star who says he has no problem playing gay because he'll "stand with his arm around his best mate in a pub. Not a problem" - have our Brent moments. The character endures, however hard or mean the world gets.
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David Brent: Life on the Road review - Ricky Gervais's bad cover version

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He's been through a breakdown, a Prozac addiction and hours of therapy, but David Brent hasn't changed a bit. The world, however, has. It's a harder, meaner place, with less time to indulge an amiable idiot. That's the premise of Life on the Road, Ricky Gervais's uneven, but not entirely unsuccessful spin-off of The Office.

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The Telegraph's shining review of David Brent's big screen outing.

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Director: Ricky Gervais; Starring: Ricky Gervais, Doc Brown, Tom Basden, Tom Bennett, Andy Burrows, Steve Clarke, Michael Clarke, Stuart Wilkinson, Diane Morgan. 15 cert, 96 mins.
It would be unfair, and also a bit insulting, to say The Office worked because Ricky Gervais and David Brent are one and the same man. But in the 13 years since that landscape-shifting sitcom completed its television run - the necessary acid-bath of his Golden Globes hosting stint there, two maudlin, hectoring series of Derek there - it's become crisply obvious that this particular creator-character relationship is a once-in-a-lifetime love match.

Credit: RAY BURMISTON

A Gervais joke that lands and a Brent one that doesn't are basically indistinguishable. The only difference is the former takes a hatchet to the mood on purpose.

After his recent tirades about comedy and offensiveness on social media, I'm not entirely convinced Gervais understands the intricate comic mechanisms that make Brent work - but then eight-year-old Mozart couldn't transcribe musical notation when he wrote his first symphony.

All of which means that, after a haphazard decade, Gervais's decision to bring back Brent for one more feature-length go-around doesn't in any way feel like a cop-out or retreat.

Since we last spent a signifiant amount of time with him, this always astonishingly plausible comic creation - now a middle-aged and largely friendless sanitary products rep at Lavichem - has 10 more years of unfulfilled dreams in the tank, and David Brent: Life on the Road gleefully burns through them in toe-twistingly funny fashion.

Even after all these years, the character still fits Gervais as comfortably as a Sergio Georgini sports jacket. (The return of the embarrassing leather coats, along with "ipso facto", Fray Bentos, and a few other deep cuts and rarities, are as close as the film gets to reheating old jokes.) There's also an excruciating new addition to Brent's arsenal of comic tics - a kind of strangulated, ingratiating groan from the back of the throat that's pure mid-life desperation distilled into a single squeak.

The plot sees Brent embarking on a vanity rock-and-roll tour, made possible by taking 11 days' unpaid leave and cashing in his various pensions. His backing band, Foregone Conclusion, are made up of a bunch of reluctant session musicians and Dom Johnson (Doc Brown), an aspiring rapper Brent pretends to manage while using as a token black friend to shore up his non-existent progressive credentials.

In theory, that all chimes with the rule, laid down in 1973 when Holiday on the Buses made for Prestatyn, that films spun off from sitcoms should send their characters on tour, to capitalise on broader canvases and boosted budgets. But Brent's road trip turns out to be even more stifling than his nine-to-five - daisy-chaining its way along an interminable series of Home Counties business hotels, each one with narrower beds and harder-wearing carpets than the last.

There is a luxuriantly sad running joke about just how parochial the tour actually is and how much it's costing Brent to pull off. Plus it's shot in exactly the same ash-tinted, glamourless visual style as The Office.

"Sold my shack in Memphis / Bought me a Chev-eh-roh-lay / Six-string in the back and a bottle of Jack / And I headed down Mexico way," Brent sings with Springsteenian conviction, while he pulls off the M25 in his lead grey Vauxhall Insignia. (The songs, with names like Lady Gypsy and Equality Street, owe much to the faux folk of the 2003 mockumentary A Mighty Wind, directed by Gervais's mentor Christopher Guest.)

If Gervais was working with more resources here than he was 13 years ago, there's zero evidence of it on screen. Happily, what's in no short supply is the same mix of uproarious failure and sledgehammer pathos that Brent at his best was always all about.

It's unmistakably The David Brent Show, rather than The Office Movie, and the minutely calibrated chemistry of the show's ensemble cast is missing. There are no Gareth, Tim or Dawn equivalents - nor, perhaps relatedly, a writing contribution from Stephen Merchant, who co-created the original show with Gervais . A Chris Finch surrogate, 'Jezza' (Andrew Brooke), doesn't get nearly enough screen time for his spite to bite, while Diane Morgan's tuned-to-the-moon PR is around just long enough to provoke murmurs of "wait a minute, isn't that Philomena Cunk?".

But Tom Bennett, the breakout star of Whit Stillman's Love & Friendship, rides a delicious tragi-preposterous groove as Nigel, Brent's only male friend at Lavichem, Tom Basden's permanently fed up road manager Dan is an asset in his every scene, and Doc Brown's Dom has a look of paralysed dismay whenever Brent ties himself in knots over issues of race that repeatedly brings the house down. (In a reflective moment, he describes his friendship with Brent as "what the dreads in UB40 have been going through for years".)

Poignancy blooms in strange places. A scene in which Brent repeatedly uses the n-word aims impossibly at tenderness - and hits. A certain piece of sentimental stagecraft at a Christmas gig is carefully built up as an disappointment-in-waiting, and so it proves - though it also draws real tears, honestly earned.

At the close of one of the most underwhelming summers at the cinema in recent memory, it's weirdly fitting that an anticlimax should be the thing to bring the house down.
David Brent: Life On the Road is released on August 19

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David Brent: Life on the Road review: Ricky Gervais at his toe-twistingly funny and poignant best

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Director: Ricky Gervais; Starring: Ricky Gervais, Doc Brown, Tom Basden, Tom Bennett, Andy Burrows, Steve Clarke, Michael Clarke, Stuart Wilkinson, Diane Morgan. 15 cert, 96 mins. It would be unfair, and also a bit insulting, to say The Office worked because Ricky Gervais and David Brent are one and the same man.

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Some of the traits of The Office that have made it such a beloved programme and the reason for multiple foreign remakes.

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The fact that The Office being remade in yet another country, for the sixth time and on this occasion in Israel, confirms once more the universality of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's comic creation. That and the fact that, by now, they must be so stupendously rich that their recent Comic Relief sketch could only have been a tame understatement.

But if we are to take The Office as a perfect artistic expression of the passions, desires and fears of our age, like a Michelangelo painting but on telly and starring a fat bloke, what makes it what it is? There are some aspects consistent across each of the international versions - it has been remade in the US, Canada, France, Chile and Russia - which might give us a clue ...

1. The boss must have a belly. Manuel Cerda is the boss of the Chilean Office, La Ofis. Unlike David Brent he is clean shaven with slicked back hair and a hangdog air which leaves him always apparently on the verge of tears. But a big fat bulbous belly? He has that all right, enough of one to undermine any pretensions he might have to alpha-male status.

2. The Tim character has to have ruffled hair. The ruffles act as an immediate signifier to the audience that this man is our hero; he is disaffected with life in the office; his willingness to change his situation is sadly confined to small, essentially childish gestures. Key practitioner of this look, of course, is Jim Halpert of the US Office. But because Jim is both heroic failure and authentic hearthrob, his hair is both ruffled and tousled.

3. Gareth must wear unfortunately coloured clothes. Gareth, Dwight (US) and Samuel (in La Job, the Francophone Canadian version) all prefer to dress in beige. This is the quickest way to show that a) the character is a dweeb and b) not nearly as tough/sexy/sophisticated as he likes to think he is.

If you're Le Bureau though, the French version of the show, then you dress Benoit Carré in striking autumnal reds and greens. Maybe this is some kind of in-joke, the French being so chic and all.

4. Dawn must gaze into the middle distance. This is to suggest ennui, but also deep existential turmoil as to whether she should stick with that swine of a boyfriend in the warehouse. In both the UK and US Office, Dawn (and Pam) are beautiful women, but still girls-next-door with looks the Gareth character might slight. This adds to our willingness to root for her as one of us.

The Chilean Dawn, Rosillo, could conceivably model swimsuits. This changes the dynamic slightly.

5. Brent is played by an international class comedian. Le Bureau never got its second series. Neither did La Job. And according to The Office Chile blog, Canal 13 might not recommision either. Why have all but one of the remakes failed? Perhaps because the revelation that office work is soul-crushing isn't quite as new to those viewers who never signed up to the Anglo-Saxon capitalist work ethic in the first place. Or, maybe, it's because the UK and US versions, the two that have succeeded, were the only ones fortunate to have comedians as talented as Ricky Gervais and Steve Carrell in their lead roles. No disrespect to François Berléand, the garlanded French actor who played Gilles Triquet, but some people just have funny bones.
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Paul MacInnes: Ricky Gervais's The Office: the perfect TV comedy?

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The fact that The Office being remade in yet another country, for the sixth time and on this occasion in Israel, confirms once more the universality of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's comic creation. That and the fact that, by now, they must be so stupendously rich that their recent Comic Relief sketch could only have been a tame understatement.

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Herein lies David Brent's inner turmoil: to be what he perceives as the ideal man or to be a consummate, non-discriminatory professional. Either way, his desired effect remains the same but regularly results in embarrassment and cowardice.

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The Office: David Brent's Apology to Tim

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David Brent's need to be liked is sometimes communicated through his "distaste" for discrimination.

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Adjusting to legal and social political correctness can be tricky for some. With the attitudes to equality catching up to the workplace around The Office's initial airdate, David Brent could be seen as the poster child for difficulty in social adjustment.

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Reviewed by Joshua Gibbs on October 4, 2015

A scene in The Office Christmas Special nearly gives David Brent away. Or rather, David Brent comes closer than usual to giving himself away. The Christmas Special is set three years after the conclusion of The Office and plays catch-up with faces made famous by the BBC2 documentary series. David has been made redundant, won a hefty lawsuit against Wernham Hogg, then blown most of that money recording a cover of (what he likely believes to be Simply Red's) "If You Don't Know Me By Now." Brent is now on the dating service scene, cold calling ladies he chooses from a list of pictures, and selling cleaning supplies to disinterested office managers. At night, Brent plays a D-league celebrity at night clubs, a mystery "TV personality" on posters whose identity is revealed to anyone willing to pay the discotheque door fee. Desperate to make something of his notoriety, David tantalizingly introduces himself to blind dates as a famous man, and the ladies generally prove as disappointed with him as he with them.

In the Christmas Special, we see David call a new lady from the dating service menu and introduce himself as someone from BBC2's The Office. He is giddy to be recognized, but the woman asks, "You're not that awful boss?" David responds that he is not, then the woman presses him, "Who are you?" After bumbling for words a moment, he hangs up, pauses a moment and complains to the camera, " Who are you? What's your name? Too many questions."

Had he been thinking, he could have passed the question, "You're not that awful boss?" off on Neil Godwin, the only other male boss from the series. Instead, he hesitates a beat and unconvincingly answers, "No." Telling the lie throws him off, he can't concentrate and he fumbles the interview. At peak performance, Brent would have assumed she meant Neil and pressed forward with plans for a date.

In the twelve episodes of the first and second series, Ricky Gervais crafted David Brent as a man profoundly adept at the art of self-justification. David is also trapped in a nasty cycle of self-justification, for nothing makes him more loathsome to others than his insistence on his own goodwill and likability, and nothing requires more acrobatic self-justification than the loathing of others. As the series progresses, the hatred of his coworkers becomes more pronounced, and David's denial of their hatred becomes increasingly brazen.

The enduring brilliance of The Office, however, is in the long, slow challenge to the impression that David is loathsome. Seven years after the end of The Office, Gervais co-wrote and starred in The Invention of Lying (2009), a film which repeatedly pulled the (best) hidden trigger that fired The Office's comedy gun. Returning to the Christmas Special a moment, another scene finds David waiting for a blind date and when an obese woman approaches, he sweats, but after he finds she isn't looking for him, David says with relief, "I'm waiting for a blind date and I was afraid you were it." The Invention of Lying wasn't really about lying, but presumed a world wherein no one was capable of holding back their most immediate thoughts. Similarly, the problem with David Brent might not be that he's loathsome, but that he says whatever he's thinking. All the absurd gymnastics of self-justification with which we privately console ourselves (for being fat, for farting in public, for having no taste in dress) are made public in David, and we cringe when David supposes himself "lovable" because we can smell the stink of our own self-justification as he speaks. David doesn't know when he's betrayed himself or exposed the crassness of his thought. All of his attempts to be politically correct prove twice as offensive as the offenses political correctness aims to subdue:

After David discovers a dirty picture with his face superimposed on it being passed around the office email, he asks:
David Brent: Who else has seen this filth?
[everyone puts their hand up, including Joan the cleaning lady]
David Brent: You haven't even got email, Joan. Joan: Someone printed it out for me. David Brent: Who printed this out for Joan?
[everyone puts their hand up again]
David Brent: Well. I'm angry. And not because I'm in it, but because it degrades women, which I hate. And the culprit, whoever he is, is in this room. Or she, it could be a woman. Women are as filthy as men. Not naming any names - I don't know any - but women... are... dirty.
David expects the claim "Women are as filthy as men" will quell potential outrage that he has singled men out for their vulgarity- but David is a good egalitarian, because egalitarianism is the manner du jour. Throughout the full run of the show, David performs political correctness like a 7 th grade boy doing Hamlet in a middle school play, although he imagines everyone is impressed with his sophistication and gentility. While David believes, perhaps in his heart of hearts, that he would do anything to be thought well of, in truth, he is willing to do nothing of what is required to be liked. He refuses to be honest with himself and admit how desperately he wants to be liked, and in refusing every kind of introspection, he refuses any kind of intuitive knowledge of others. He's nearly an alien.

I first encountered The Office in my first year as a high school teacher, and while it would be too much to say the show saved my life, it certainly saved my job. Despite the opinionated tone I sometimes take in articles here (or writing for CiRCE), I genuinely can't stand conflict. In that first year of teaching, I watched the whole Office series three or four times and studied David Brent for signs of myself- the back peddling, the man pleasing, the overzealous search for new ways to be liked. Several times in the classroom I caught the David Brent stench in my words as I presented myself as the cool teacher, the teacher who referenced popular culture, the teacher who understood the plight of the student. Watching The Office was a painful, necessary rebuke I had to revisit until the sting had been fully absorbed. What I learned was that everyone was a little Brent-ish, and recognizing this fact was the only key to not being highly Brent-ish. The Office is a show every teacher, every administrator, every boss of every stripe ought to make a ritual effort to watch for an hour once a year. Your ego demands it.

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The Enduring Brilliance of The Office: We Are All David Brent Now - FilmFisher

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A scene in The Office Christmas Special nearly gives David Brent away. Or rather, David Brent comes closer than usual to giving himself away. The Christmas Special is set three years after the conclusion of The Office and plays catch-up with faces made famous by the BBC2 documentary series.

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Article 14 is an amendment to the Human Rights Act instituted by the European Union in 1998 to create a fairer and more equally working environment for every employee.

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Article 14: Protection from discrimination | Equality and Human Rights Commission

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Article 14 requires that all of the rights and freedoms set out in the Act must be protected and applied without discrimination.

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The Office's spoof usage of the fly-on-the-wall documentary style has also been criticised. Some suggest it's caused TV comedy to become lazy.

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It's been said that we're living in a golden age of television. The past few years have seen harrowing dramas, clever cartoons, and fresh takes on comedy gracing the silver screen. The sitcom genre in particular has been re-energized by a "new" format: the mockumentary.

In truth, the mockumentary style, a form of fiction that appropriates nonfiction conventions that are hallmarks of documentary, appeared a long time ago in mediums that preceded television. For instance, the famous War of the Worlds broadcast, during which narrator Orson Welles used a series of fake news bulletins to suggest that an alien invasion was happening, could be considered one of the first mockumentaries. In this instance, the format as "cruelly deceptive." The term became popular in the when Rob Reiner, the director of This Is Spinal Tap, used it to describe his film about a popular English band going on tour. Today, the mockumentary has found a comfortable place in comedy television. The most notable are American sitcoms such as The Office, Parks and Recreation, and Modern Family, which will serve as the primary focus of this article.

These shows function as intersections between the real and the unreal as they effectively parody documentaries. They play with the boundary between fact and fiction by looking and "feeling" real, but occasionally flagging themselves as fictional. They are also wildly successful. The Office has appeared on several top TV series lists and has been hailed as having one of the best casts on TV. The second season of Parks and Rec the most impressive comeback in TV history, and in 2012, Time Magazine named Parks and Rec the #1 TV series of the year. Modern Family has won 18 Primetime Emmy Awards and for its realistic depictions of family life.

Why do American audiences and critics alike love mockumentaries? What is it about talking heads, casual dialogue, and improvised scenes that capture our attention and garner such critical praise? After all, the premises of these popular mockumentaries seem underwhelming on paper. The Office revolves around the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the Mifflin Paper Company. Parks and Rec follows Leslie and other employees of the Parks and Recreation department in Pawnee, Indiana, and their main is to build a park in an abandoned lot in town. Modern Family focuses on three families living in the Los Angeles area, who through Jay and his children, Claire and Mitchell.

These plotlines don't revolve around life or death conflicts, lifestyles of the rich and famous, risqué scandals, or glamorous locations. Instead, it's the social dynamics of a 9 to 5, life in a small town, or the day-to-day lives of middle-class families. And that's precisely why they work. We see exaggerated versions of ourselves in these shows: our socially awkward or over-eager bosses (Michael Scott and Leslie ), our slacking coworkers (April Ludgate), the office romance that everyone gossips about (Jim and Pam Beasley), our self-proclaimed "cool dad" (Phil ), and our sister (Hayley ).

Furthermore, these mockumentaries have a "feel good" nature. Many popular shows focus on characters facing serious, stressful, high-risk situations. But these successful mockumentaries are good at heart: characters struggle and face hardship, but the general tone is positive. Trials are low stakes and typically resolved easily. They are reminiscent of our real lives, focusing on both the everyday ups and downs and typical milestones: getting married, having kids and raising them, going to work, and connecting with family and friends. It's both relaxing and reassuring to see the characters we love experiencing the same things that we do. We cheer when Leslie and Ben Wyatt finally , we laugh when Jim pulls endless pranks on Dwight , we feel proud when Hayley's family celebrates that she was at college. It's as though we're living our lives right the characters.

also have a "natural" feel that helps viewers to relate to the action and characters. There is no laugh track on The Office, Parks and Rec, or Modern Family, so we are not constantly reminded that they are fictional. The characters' speech typically comes across as unscripted due to casual and occasionally awkward dialogue. Improvised scenes also add to the "real" feeling of a documentary: although the scripts are often brilliant on their own, actors such as Ty Burrell and Amy have said that sometimes, cast members will come up with hilarious lines on the spot. The format itself causes the subject to become even funnier. Even though what's happening may seem absurd, it "rational" perspective of a documentary. This allows us to see just how ridiculous and silly the things we deal with in .

The humor of these mockumentaries heavily influenced by social, pop culture, and political commentary. The characters on Parks and Rec love Game of Thrones, and Mifflin's employees make countless Harry Potter references. Furthermore, current political issues can sometimes be front and center. On Modern Family, Mitchell and Cam Tucker are a gay couple, and many viewers feel this representation is important at a time when gay marriage is still a hotly debated issue. These cultural and political references serve two purposes. We feel like we're in on the joke, and we exist in the same universe as our favorite characters. We watch the same shows, read the same books, and listen to the same music. It's also gratifying to see these characters equally frustrated with societal issues.

The success of the mockumentary will most likely persist. Few sitcoms use the format, but those that do are clearly regarded as high quality television. The style has entertained audiences and critics through various mediums for decades, and many have recognized its importance. It has already changed the sitcom genre and has firmly established its value as a medium for satiric storytelling that audiences easily connect to.

What do you think? .

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The Mockumentary Sitcom: A Closer Look at Form

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It's been said that we're living in a golden age of television. The past few years have seen harrowing dramas, clever cartoons, and fresh takes on comedy gracing the silver screen. The sitcom genre in particular has been re-energized by a "new" format: the mockumentary.

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The mockumentary is now a staple of television comedy and has provided the world with countless quality programming thanks to The Office's innovation and use of the format.

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Mockumentary is an ugly word, a lazy shorthand for a comedy in the style of a documentary. And yes, they can be ugly and lazy, at least when they are made badly. That may be why, every now and again, critics pop up to express the hope that they will go out of fashion and we will concentrate on more traditional forms of storytelling instead.

Recently, a Vice article complained that a "particular strain of mockumentary" has become so ubiquitous that it has infected many British non-mockumentary sitcoms with "the stifled mannerisms and awkward shuffling of the form". It said: "The mockumentary needs to die for British comedy to survive."

As someone who has just directed a BBC mockumentary, I would like to say: "Ouch." I do agree that much British TV comedy isn't innovative. But the existence of bad mockumentaries doesn't make them inherently bad. In fact, the style is just as broad as the ever-evolving documentary style. And the documentary is arguably the most central artistic form of our time.

Today, most of us live our lives through a documentary lens. We record and curate our days through Snapchat, Instagram stories, Periscope, Twitter, Facebook Live. We're dazzled by new visual languages on YouTube: mad GoPro stunts, dashboard cams, the supposedly erotic whisperings of ASMR and the infinitely varied world of vlogging. More than ever, our everyday lives are mediated through media, which suggests that mockumentary is the most appropriate comedic style to explore how we live now.

The joy of directing mockumentaries is that you can edit ruthlessly and cram in way more jokes and stories than you can fit in a regular sitcom. This turned out to be perfectly suited to the subject of the BBC3 show I helped make: an exploration of the mesmerisingly strange phenomenon of YouTube vloggers. The mockumentary language of jump-cuts, mixed media and silly cutaways are the same hyperactive editing styles adopted by YouTube personalities. We made sure to film with the same technology vloggers use - laptops, iPhones, GoPros and Canon SLRs. And this marked the first time I had to call for another take because the boom mic wasn't in shot.

The world of superstar vloggers such as Zoella is fascinating but closely guarded. The only notable genuine documentaries about them are whitewashed brand promotion exercises, either made by fellow vloggers or by YouTube itself. So, even though the characters in Pls Like are imaginary, the care we took to make them as authentic as possible means our very silly fake show is arguably more truthful than the equivalent documentaries on the subject.

Mockumentaries are one of the most unforgiving styles of filming for cast and crew. There's no artifice to hide behind, so you can instantly tell when someone's doing too much acting, or if the camerawork is too slick. It's quite tricky to plot a story that can be revealed only by what a documentary crew would happen to stumble upon.

Undeterred, many modern comedies and films borrow the unpretentious freewheeling camerawork and jump-cut style of the mockumentary without the full-on commitment of dressing up as real documentaries. The intent is to evoke the same spirit: that the characters you will meet will be slightly caught off guard. You get the fun of peeping through the paparazzi lens, while feeling slightly uncomfortable for intruding.

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'A handheld style makes you feel like there's a human witnessing the story' ... Ben Wheatley's Free Fire. Photograph: Allstar/FILM4

The Thick of It is the classic example of this on TV, while Britain's leading cinematic practitioner is the director Ben Wheatley, in films such as Kill List, Sightseers and, now, Free Fire. Before making films, Wheatley created some of the internet's first successful viral videos and directed news-style visual effects sequences in Armando Iannucci's fake history show Time Trumpet, including a War of the Worlds-inspired vision of Tesco invading Denmark.

One of the many distinctive things about Wheatley's filmmaking is how he takes crazy situations and grounds them in reality. "A handheld style makes you feel like there's a human witnessing the story." He told me. "You understand the point of view. It reacts how an eye reacts: the camera is intelligent and it looks on your behalf. It takes in emotion."

The handheld camera can make you feel like you're right there in the room, investigating. "It's not just about jiggling the camera around. The camera becomes a character, so you have to brief the cameraman like you would an actor. There's not just one style of handheld camerawork: it changes depending on the mood you're trying to create, and even the weight and shape of the camera you're using."

He explains how in his adaptation of JG Ballard's High-Rise the camera moves are more fluid and controlled when the building is functioning properly, becoming more jerky and spontaneous when order starts to break down. "But in the end, the audience only gets upset about the style when it doesn't work. After all, no one complains about the shaky-cam you see in the Bourne films or Saving Private Ryan - or on the news."

When I explained the Vice article to Wheatley, he just giggled. "You can't say one style is better or worse. You should just take each mockumentary on its merits. Do the actors have the skill to pull it off? Is it the right approach for the story you're telling?"

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A mockumentary that satirises the limits of artistic criticism ... Review. Photograph: ABC

When executed well, the mockumentary style informs how every character appears on camera. In The Office, David Brent comes across as a worse boss than he normally is: he's further alienated from his staff because, while they are trying to hide from the camera's gaze, he's showing off to it. This character doesn't just happen to be in a mockumentary: he appears the way he does precisely because of it.

For certain stories, the mockumentary is clearly a more appropriate form than a normal filmic style. But it's not simply a choice between two options: there's a third way, too. Instead of making a film look more like found footage, you can make found footage look more like a film. So, in Force Majeure, a movie about the marital fallout following a husband's cowardly escape from an avalanche, the final scene is a beautifully shot yet incredibly accurate re-creation of some viral phone footage of an incompetent coach driver that the director found on the internet.

The final word on a criticism of mockumentaries is perhaps best left to a mockumentary about criticism. That'd be the Australian show Review; its fantastic American remake has just finished its final series on Comedy Central. The mockumentary satirises the limits of artistic criticism by forcing its milquetoast presenter to give inadequate star ratings to life experiences increasingly outside his comfort zone. Far from being a retread of The Office, this is just one of many inventive comedies that prove it's not time to reject the mockumentary just yet. We should just try harder to do the format justice.

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Mockumentary hasn't killed comedy - it perfectly skewers how we live now

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Mockumentary is an ugly word, a lazy shorthand for a comedy in the style of a documentary. And yes, they can be ugly and lazy, at least when they are made badly. That may be why, every now and again, critics pop up to express the hope that they will go out of fashion and we will concentrate on more traditional forms of storytelling instead.

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The Daily Telegraph's ranking of the best of British television programming.

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From I, Claudius to This Country: the 60 best British TV shows of all time

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Drama, comedy, documentary, and baking: presenting our highly subjective list of the best that British TV has to offer.

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Empire magazines list of the greatest TV shows ever ranking The Office at number 27.

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The Wire. Breaking Bad. Sex And The City. Um, Airwolf. We asked and you voted - in your droves - for the greatest TV shows/series ever committed to the small screen. The numbers have been crunched and the results are in. Here, in descending order of greatest, are Empire's 50 best TV shows. It's bad news for Stringfellow Hawke...

50. Columbo

Best Episode: Forgotten Lady (Season 5, Episode 1)
Buy Columbo now on Amazon
49. Sex And The City

Best Episode: The Agony And The Ex-tacy (Season 4, Episode 1)
Stream Sex And The City now with Amazon Video
48. 30 Rock

2006-2013
Can it really be over? 30 Rock's brains trust have since moved on to Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, an equally madcap slice of New York-icana, but we still really miss Tina Fey's NBC-set showcase of sharp-writing, pitch-perfect performances and Frank Rossitano's trucker hats. NBC head honcho Jack Donaghy was the role Alec Baldwin was born to play (well, that and El Generalissimo), while Fey herself is the frazzled heart of the show around whom all the madness happens. And, boy, is there a lot of madness. Tracy 'stabbing robot' Jordan provides a good 74 percent of it.

Best Episode Tracy Does Conan (Season 1, episode 7)
Stream 30 Rock now with Amazon Video
47. M*A*S*H

1972-83
This series based on Robert Altman's 1970 film managed to last over three times as long as the Korean War it used as backdrop. MASH was a searing exploration of how the doctors and nurses of the 4077th (a mobile army surgical hospital, hence the title) used humour to get through the atrocities they were faced with on a daily basis. A sterling cast, including Alan Alda, Loretta Swit, Mike Farrell, David Ogden Stiers and Harry Morgan kept this riveting (and hilarious) throughout its 11-year run, meanwhile the commentary on war continued to the very end, when, in the final episode, the unit's news reporter discusses the growing conflict in Vietnam.

Best Episode: Point Of View (Season 7, episode 10)

46. The Americans

2013-present
The Cold War feels that much chillier in this inventive series, which follows the lives of two Russian sleeper agents who are very much awake in 1980s Washington. Complicated, passionate and thrown together by the Mother Russia, Philip ( Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth Jennings ( Keri Russell) are fascinating creations: driven by patriotism but torn by the pull of their adopted home and the American family they raised as a cover. It can be vicious, it can be touching, but The Americans always delivers, and unlike some of the Jennings' targets, is set to go out on its own terms with two final seasons to come.

Best Episode: The Magic Of David Copperfield V: The Statue Of Liberty Disappears (Season 4, episode 8)
Watch The Americans online now with Amazon Prime - 30 days free
45. ER

1994-2009
It ran until there wasn't a single member of the original cast left (at least, until the spectacular reunion finale) but ER amazingly showed little sign of decline throughout its 15-year run. Based on a film script by Michael Crichton, the series evolved into a weekly slice of emergency medicine at Chicago's county hospital, one that was separated from inferior imitators by smart scripts, great characters and a willingness to shock - Dr. Greene's bathroom attack, Lucy and Carter vs schizophrenic knife-wielder. The list of cameos, both in front and behind the camera, is as long as your arm and boasted such names as Quentin Tarantino, Kirsten Dunst and Ewan McGregor.

Best Episode: Hell And High Water (Season 2, Episode 7)
Stream ER now with Amazon Video
44. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

1993-1999
The perfect show for binge-watching before the concept existed. In its earliest days, this spin-off to Star Trek: The Next Generation felt like the storytelling was going to by-the-numbers Trek, only on a space station. Flash-forward a couple of seasons, and this is the show that broke the Star Trek mould, filled with flesh-and-blood human beings (even if they were aliens), character arcs that frequently stretched over the course of seasons, groundbreaking storytelling and complex characters. Some complain this station-bound show doesn't go anywhere, but this is the Trek that went where none had gone before.

Best Episode: In The Pale Moonlight (Season 6, Episodes 19)
Buy Star Trek: Deep Space Nine now on Amazon
43. Arrested Development

Best Episode: Pier Pressure (Season 1, episode 10)
Stream Arrested Development now with Amazon Video
42. The Bridge (Broen)

Best Episode: Series 1, episode 10
Buy The Bridge (Broen) now on Amazon
41. Fargo

2014-
A standing embodiment of the advice that you shouldn't judge ideas before you see them realised, alarm klaxons rang when it was announced that someone was going to make a TV series based on the Coen brothers' crime classic. But Noah Hawley was incredibly smart in how he used the movie's faux true crime trappings and small-town settings but wove his own story into them. Bumbling chancers, dangerous crooks and smart lawfolk all made the first season work well, and then everything pivoted for the second, turning the clock back to one of the characters' earlier days to chronicle mobsters and strange goings-on. A quality cast that has included Martin Freeman, Colin Hanks, Patrick Wilson, Kirsten Dunst, Billy Bob Thornton and Bob Odenkirk hasn't hurt matters, and we can look forward to Ewan McGregor (as twins, no less) in season three.

Best Episode: Loplop (Season 2, episode 8)
Stream Fargo now with Amazon Video
40. Parks And Recreation

2009-2015
First conceived as a spin-off of the US Office, Parks & Rec initially struggled to shuffle out of the shadow of its bigger brother. But while the first season wobbled, the second soared and sustained that quality right the way to its emotional finale. Retaining The Office's 'workplace mockumentary' format, it ribbed the pernickety pedantry of small-town politics from the perspective of always-optimistic bureaucrat Leslie Knope, played with sheer brilliance by Amy Poehler, and propped up by a faultless ensemble, perhaps most notable of all being grumpy libertarian alpha male Ron Fucking Swanson (choice quote: "I need five courses for dinner, and each of them will be steak").

Best Episode: Ron & Tammy Part 2 (Season 3, episode 4)
Watch Parks And Recreation online now with Amazon Prime - 30 days free
39. The Walking Dead

Best Episode: Here's Not Here (Season 6, episode 4)
Watch The Walking Dead online now with Amazon Prime - 30 days free
38. Monty Python's Flying Circus

Best Episode: Impossible to pick one but How To Recognise Different Types Of Trees From Quite A Long Way Away has the best name
Stream Monty Python's Flying Circus now with Amazon Video
37. Doctor Who

1963-1989/2005-
Sydney Newman, Verity Lambert and the others who brought the world's most famous time-traveller into existence knew what they were doing when they turned the need to replace the lead into one of the canniest ways to reboot and refresh the show. And so it has kept going - albeit with that 16-year blip - for more than 50 years. Evolving from the days of cardboard sets and plastic monsters (which, let's be honest, were a big part of the show's charm) to the much more polished, but still incredibly fun version of today. Generations have grown up watching the series, delighting at the idiosyncratic main character and running scared from the various creatures he outwits. It's a series that prioritises brains over brawn, and shoots you off to the far corners of the universe. What's not to love?

Best Episode: Genesis Of The Daleks (Series 12)
Stream Doctor Who now with Amazon Video
36. Six Feet Under

Best Episode: It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year (Season 2, episode 8)
Stream Six Feet Under now with Amazon Video
35. Friday Night Lights

2006-2011
Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can't lose. Yeah, you knew we were going to lead with that. But if we're describing the feeling of watching the show about a struggling Texas high-school American football team, it might need to be amended to "watery eyes, full hearts, sometimes lost, but we loved the team anyway". Peter Berg's knowing adaptation of the H. G. Bissinger book and the 2004 movie he drew from it, broadened the scope of the world and wrangled memorable characters that live and breathe. In coach Eric Taylor ( Kyle Chandler) and wife Tami ( Connie Britton), we got one of the best examples of married couple on TV. And, most importantly, you don't need to worship at the church of the gridiron to appreciate it.

Best Episode: Mud Bowl (Season 1, episode 20)
Stream Friday Night Lights now with Amazon Video
34. Only Fools And Horses

1981-2003 The later Christmas specials may have been about as funny as an Oxfam ad but for most of its run, Only Fools And Horses was a sitcom that made you proud to be British. Del Boy and Rodney Trotter's doomed attempts to become millionaires kept the nation smiling for over 20 years and, even with constant repeats, they still manage to raise a giggle today. No matter how many times you watch the best bits (the chandelier scene, the yuppie bar fall, the Batman And Robin run), they never fail to make us laugh.

Best Episode: Yuppy Love (Series 6, episode 1)
Stream Only Fools And Horses now with Amazon Video
33. I'm Alan Partridge

1997-2002
When Norwich city council recently announced that they were to pedestrianise their city centre, thousands took to Twitter to express mock displeasure, protesting in unison that "traders need access to Dixons", to the bafflement of councillors. That's the power of I'm Alan Partridge, which in two series has become part of cultural lexicon, providing an endless well of absurd quotes to repeat in any given scenario. 'Partridge-esque' is now a clearly-defined adjective. Petty, bitter, entirely lacking in self-awareness, the ultimate little Englander, Steve Coogan 's Partridge is one of the most exceptional and keenly-observed comedy characters ever conceived; this sitcom remains his greatest manifestation. It's a TV show which has been described as, and I quote, "lovely stuff". Not my words - the word of Shakin' Stevens.

Best Episode: The Colour Of Alan (Series 2, episode 2)
Stream I'm Alan Partridge now with Amazon Video
32. The Thick Of It

2005-2012
Political satire used to be a mere wry quip here, a raised eyebrow there (the iconic Yes Minister aside). Then The Thick Of It stormed in and told everybody: "fuckity bye". With Peter Capaldi's fire-breathing fixer Malcolm Tucker at its centre, Armando Iannucci's foul-mouthed comedy remains one of the sharpest, fastest-witted comedies ever, skewering Britain's political class via a tornado of creative cursing. Bizarrely, and to the general bemusement of its creators and fans, life has unwisely decided to imitate art - Michael Gove announced plans to have children design apps mere days after the 'Silicon Playgrounds' episode, while George Osborne's 2012 budget was widely described as an "omnishambles".

Best Episode: Spinners And Losers
Stream The Thick Of It now with Amazon Video
31. Curb Your Enthusiasm

Best Episode: Opening Night (Season 4, Episode 10).
Stream Curb Your Enthusiasm now with Amazon Video
30. Star Trek

Best Episode: The City On The Edge Of Forever (Season 1, episode 28)
Stream Star Trek now with Amazon Video
29. Sherlock

2010-
Like Dracula, Sherlock Holmes is one of those evergreen characters that is endlessly reinvented, either with a period-appropriate take or adapted for the present day of whoever tackles him. Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss plumped for the latter, bringing the great grouse detective bang up to date with texting, sexual innuendo, bromance and gusto. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman have long since entered the canon of great Sherlocks and Watsons, and their every move is charted by a massive, enthusiastic fan base. The show is witty, wonderful and far too infrequently on our screens.

Best Episode: A Scandal In Belgravia (Series 2, episode 1)
Stream Sherlock now with Amazon Video
28. Twin Peaks

Best Episode: Episode Twenty-Nine (Season 2, Episode 22).
Stream Twin Peaks now with Amazon Video
27. The Office (UK)

2001-2003
Ignore those who claim that the American remake of The Office is superior. For while the Steve Carell-headed sitcom is undoubtedly brilliant, it is perhaps a bit too... cheerful? The joy of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant 's original series was its total lack of joy: in 14 episodes, it deftly depicted the wretched reality of dreary office life. It was a life of muted greys, PowerPoint training sessions, and an all-pervading hopelessness, led by a deluded boss who thinks he's everyone's mate ("basically just a chilled-out entertainer"). Sometimes, there's nothing like a bit of old-fashioned British pessimism.

Best episode: Charity (Series 2, episode 5)
Buy The Office (UK) now on Amazon
26. Lost

Best Episode: Exodus (Season 1, Episodes 23-24)
Stream Lost now with Amazon Video
25. Seinfeld

1990-1998
It began as a summer replacement series, and a low-rated one at that, but Seinfeld, based on the comedy of and starring Jerry Seinfeld, was given the one thing that few shows get these days: time for an audience to find it. Patience on the network's part paid off, as Seinfeld, the show about nothing, became an unprecedented juggernaut. The audience fell in love with four self-centred pals whose self-involvement drew them together, turning Jerry ( Seinfeld), Elaine ( Julia-Louis Dreyfus), George ( Jason Alexander) and Kramer (Michael Richards) into household names. Not to mention (though obviously we are) such supporting characters as Newman, Puddy, Babu Bhatt, George's parents, Frank and Estelle; Uncle Leo and, of course, the Soup Nazi. As a reflection of society, the image is not a pretty one, but it is classic.

Best Episode: The Contest (Season 4, episode 11)
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24. Fawlty Towers

1975-1979
One of British TV's greatest ever sitcoms, the central question of Fawlty Towers - why the world's least hospitable man would go into hospitality in the first place - remains tantalisingly unanswered across 12 kipper-serving, Siberian hamster-hunting, German-baiting episodes. A straight zero on TripAdvisor, the very layout of Fawlty Towers itself offers comedy gold as Basil ( John Cleese), his wife Sybil ( Prunella Scales), waitress Polly (Connie Booth) and poor, benighted Manuel (Andrew Sachs) manoeuvre themselves (and the odd corpse) around its dowdy interior without ruining anyone's stay. Basil, needless to say, fails. Often and hilariously.

Best Episode: The Germans (Series 1, episode 6)
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23. 24

2001-2015
Okay, so the recent miniseries wasn't great, but 24 has bounced back before and we're hoping the forthcoming 24: Legacy will see the Jack Bauer Power Hour back on form (albeit without Jack Bauer). At its best, there was just nothing like it - insane levels of adrenaline, finely calibrated political intrigue and twists that hit you in the face like a two-fisted punch from Tony Almeida. 24 was some of the most cinematic TV we've ever seen, with no expense spared to depict CTU's intense battles against cunning terrorists and the odd occasional rogue President. Even when 24 was rubbish, it was still loveable - admit it, you still have a soft spot for the cougar that menaced Kim Bauer in the show's worst ever plot device, back in Season 2.

Best Episode: 6:00 AM - 7:00 AM (Season 3, Episode 18) - the death of Ryan Chapelle
Watch 24 online now with Amazon Prime - 30 days free
22. Buffy The Vampire Slayer

1997-2003
Imagine, for a moment, a world where the only version of Buffy was the movie. Terrifying, isn't it? Fortunately, Joss Whedon reclaimed his knowing, meta stab at horror movies with the TV incarnation, casting Sarah Michelle Gellar as the cheerleader-turned-chosen-one supernatural slayer and launching a thousand memorable lines of dialogue. Buffy excelled because it ran real-world struggles through the medium of fantasy and horror and gave us great villains, romantic entanglements that felt painfully honest and a Scooby gang we'd all hang out with. Plus: monsters.

Best Episode: Becoming: Part 2 (Season 2, episode 22)
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21. The X-Files

1993-2016
Yes, we know the series came back this year with that truncated tenth season. We're... just choosing to ignore that (except for possibly episode three). In its '90s heyday, Chris Carter's series was the perfect stew of conspiracy theories, romantic drama, monster-of-the-week shocker and just the right leavening of humour when called for. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson's Mulder and Scully deserve a place in the pantheon of TV partnerships, evidenced by the fact that the show suffered when Duchovny stepped away. Still, when it worked, it really worked.

Best Episode: Squeeze (Season 1, episode 3)
Watch The X-Files online now with Amazon Prime - 30 days free
20. The Shield

Best Episode: Post Partum (Season 5, Episode 11)
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19. Frasier

1993-2004
Frasier was one of those rare things: a comedy series that relied on smarts (and the odd pratfall) to get its laughs. Cleverly transposing the beloved Cheers stalwart to his home town of Seattle and shifting the broader format of the original show to suit the unique quirks of its new characters, the most successful spin-off of all time was wordy and wise and not averse to indulging in the odd moment of high farce. Like the quality comedy theatre it aspired to emulate, Frasier's appeal will continue to endure.

Best Episode: The Show Must Go Off (Season 8, episode 12)
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18. Homicide: Life On The Streets

1993-1999
People use the word 'gritty' in relation to film and TV drama all the time, but as a TV cop drama, Homicide: Life On The Street was the real deal. An avowed attempt by creator David Simon to get into the business of day-to-day procedural police work, as opposed to the glossier cop-show version audiences were used to, it ran for seven seasons in the 1990s, and remains incredibly influential. Testament to its quality was the ridiculous guest cast it attracted: Vincent D'Onofrio, Robin Williams, Paul Giamatti, Jake Gyllenhaal and J.K. Simmons were among those who temporarily joined the outstanding regulars.

Best Episode: Prison Riot (Season 5, episode 3)
Buy Homicide: Life On The Streets now on Amazon
17. Spaced

1999-2001
Spaced, in which Edgar Wright, Jessica Hynes and Simon Pegg channelled their own pop-cultural obsessions and witty observations to spin gold out of a well-used sitcom idea, is endlessly rewatchable. Kicking the careers of the three creators up a notch, it can be uproarious, but it's also heartfelt, never forgetting to make the characters into people you care about while riffing on different genres. And the fact that only 14 episodes exist adds to the reason we all like it so much - it never overstayed its welcome, no matter how much we might have pineed for more.

Best Episode: Chaos (Series 1, episode 5)
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16. Mad Men

2007-2015 For the unconverted, Matthew Weiner's show was just a lot of people in suits aggressively smoking at each other. But for fans of the multi-Emmy and Golden Globe-winning AMC drama, there's magic in even the slower moments as Don Draper ( Jon Hamm) and his advertising kin negotiate first the perils and pitfalls of Madison Avenue, then a fast-changing America, often while sloshed on whisky. A show of great moments (the lawnmower, the death of Lane, Betty's shotgun, the LSD), it made an early bid for greatness and maintained it across seven seasons. There aren't many shows you can say that about.

Best Episode Far Away Places (Season 5, episode 6)
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15. Hill Street Blues

Best Episode: Trial By Fury (Season 3, episode 1)
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14. The Sopranos

Best Episode: Long Term Parking (Season 5, episode 12)
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13. Deadwood

2004-2006
The rootinest, tootinest, sweariest show that ever dared raise its head on television? That'll be Deadwood. Set in the lawless Dakota Territory town when the disenfranchised of the world descended on the Black Hills to find their fortune, David Milch's masterpiece presented the frontier townspeople as disparate souls with morals more muddy than the main thoroughfare. Happily throwing traditional notions of good and evil out the saloon window, the show constantly shifted audience loyalties, presenting a world where every act, noble or not, had repercussions. And in Ian McShane's foul-mouthed barman, Al Swearengen, we were presented with one of television's most complex and interesting characters.

Best Episode: Requiem For A Gleet (Season 2, episode 4)
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12. The Twilight Zone

Best Episode: To Serve Man. (Season 3, episode 24).
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11. Cracker

Best Episode: To Be A Somebody (Series 2, episode 1)
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10. The Killing (Forbrydelsen)

2007-2012
One murder; three intricately interwoven plotlines; 20 episodes. In its home country of Denmark, The Killing's first series was supposed to be split into two halves with a year's gap in the middle, but demand for the conclusion was so great it was brought forward by six months. As an export, it was right in the eye of a perfect storm of Danish noir: its breakout UK success coming hot on the heels of Wallander, and paving the way for Borgen and The Bridge. Sofie Gråbøl's chunky-knit sweater became a star in itself.

Best Episode: Season One, episode 20
Stream The Killing (Forbrydelsen) now with Amazon Video
9. Blackadder

1983-1989
For a show that began expensive and extravagant, and only survived the chop when its creators (including Ben Elton and Richard Curtis) agreed to turn it into a studio-bound production, Blackadder quickly entered the national consciousness for its well-constructed gags and some consummate acting from the likes of Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Hugh Laurie, Tim McInnerny and a revolving-door troupe of guests. For all its formulaic nature, the show was consistently sharp and funny, and even, with its fourth series, Blackadder Goes Forth showed off a beating heart of compassion.

Best Episode: Bells (Series 2, episode 1)
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8. Oz

1997-2003
Long before Orange Is The New Black blended humour and pain behind bars, Oz took a much darker look at prison life, set in the Oswald State Correctional Facility. Bleak but brilliant, it gathered a group of characters from different walks of life and then subjected them to terrifying traumas on a weekly basis. If anyone you know shudders when they see the perfectly charming (and not at all psychopathic) J.K. Simmons in other roles, Oz is to blame. We highly recommend watching it if you've never caught the show, but a word of advice if you go bingeing: have something lighthearted and fun to watch in between seasons. Trust us.

Best Episode: Revenge Is Sweet (Season 4, episode 11)

7. Game Of Thrones

2011-
TV - and the lesser restrictions/bigger budget allowed by HBO - really was the only place Thrones would have worked outside of George R.R. Martin's books. And even then, it's a juggling act given the sedate pace of the author's output. While it makes some significant changes from the pages, much of what people enjoyed about Martin's mixture of fantasy and grimy medieval politics remains intact. With a cast led by the likes of Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, it's full to the brim of all the death, betrayal, laughter and dragons that you might wish for.

Best Episode: Blackwater (Season 2, episode 9)
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6. Battlestar Galactica

Best Episode: 33 (Season 1, episode 1)
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5. Friends

Best Episode: The One With The Prom Video (Season 2, episode 14)
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4. The Simpsons

Best Episode: Marge Vs. The Monorail (Season 4, episode 12)
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3. The West Wing

1996-2006
For a long time a walk-on part in The West Wing was the pinnacle to which all jobbing TV actors aspired. Smart and funny, Aaron Sorkin's political drama showcased the writer's gift for rapid-fire dialogue and layered, politically resonant storylines, proving that television can be funny and insightful all at the same time. The series took a temporary downturn after Sorkin's departure at the end of season four but rallied soon after with a number of surprising changes to both character roles and format. It all came to a natural close at the end of President Bartlet's second term in office but The West Wing remained one of the most intelligent shows on television throughout its run and a comforting image of what a more benevolent White House could look like.

Best Episode: Two Cathedrals (Season 2, episode 22)
Stream The West Wing now with Amazon Video
2. Breaking Bad

2008-2013
"It doesn't get really good until Season 2," people said. "Stick with it." The first season was not without its moments, and it laid key groundwork for Bryan Cranston's Walter White to later descend from family man to soul-shucked demon, but season two was when Vince Gilligan's astonishing, gripping, often plain harrowing show really took off. There followed murders, plane crashes, betrayals, ferocious set pieces, indelible dialogue ("I am the one who knocks!") and meth - enormous quantities of meth. At the beginning of the bingeing era, here was some Class A, serious addictive television.

Best Episode: One Minute (Season 3, episode 7)
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1. The Wire

2002-2008 "You come at the king, you best not miss..." There have been plenty of challengers for The Wire's crown as Greatest TV Show Of All Time™, but nearly a decade after we left Baltimore, nothing has come close. The incredible achievements of David Simon's landmark crime drama have been repeated ad nauseum (at one point in the noughties you could barely move without someone asking "are you watching The Wire?") but heck, they bear repeating. The way it stubbornly avoids all procedural tropes; the flawless ensemble cast, a mix of veteran actors and authentic Baltimoreans; the vast, book-like world-building, spanning corruptible institutions and hundreds of characters, each with their own unique and surprising arc; the ambiguous moral ground all those characters occupy - no heroes or villains here; and the intelligent, angry way it evaluates modern America, highlighting the devastating impact of neoliberal policies on the country's underclass. All that - and it still manages to be a dependably riveting drama, with emotional stakes and gallows humour in equal doses? All in the game, yo. All in the game.

Best Episode: Middle Ground (Season 3, episode 11)
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READ MORE: The Definitive History Of The West Wing

READ MORE: The latest news on Sherlock season 4

READ MORE: The 25 Best Moments In Breaking Bad

READ MORE: The best TV shows of 2016 (so far)

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James Dyer, Owen Williams, Ed Gross, James White, John Nugent, Phil de Semlyen, Chris Hewitt

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The Wire. Breaking Bad. Sex And The City. Um, Airwolf. We asked and you voted - in your droves - for the greatest TV shows/series ever committed to the small screen. The numbers have been crunched and the results are in. Here, in descending order of greatest, are Empire's 50 best TV shows.