The Office: Story, Cast and Series Facts

The Office (2001): Comedy. Series details, synopsis, cast and season dates from TVmaze.

By the Pop Culture Files editorial team•Updated September 30, 2026•2 min read•✓ Fact-checked

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Story and premise

A mockumentary about life in a mid-sized suboffice paper merchants in a bleak British industrial town, where manager David Brent thinks he's the coolest, funniest, and most popular boss ever. He isn't. That doesn't stop him from embarrassing himself in front of the cameras on a regular basis, whether from his political sermonizing, his stand-up 'comedy', or his incredibly unique dancing. Meanwhile, long-suffering Tim longs after Dawn the engaged receptionist and keeps himself sane by playing childish practical jokes on his insufferable, army-obsessed deskmate Gareth. Will the Slough office be closed? Will the BBC give David a game show? Will Tim and Dawn end up with each other? And more importantly, will Gareth realize what a hopeless prat he is?

Series details

Title: The Office
Format: Scripted
Language: English
Genres: Comedy
Premiere date: 2001-07-09
Final broadcast date listed: 2003-12-27
Status in TVmaze: Ended
Network listed by TVmaze: BBC Two
Network country: United Kingdom
Typical episode runtime: 30 minutes
TVmaze community rating: 7.8/10
TVMaze ID: 1292

Cast and credited roles

Ricky Gervais — David Brent
Martin Freeman — Tim Canterbury
Mackenzie Crook — Gareth Keenan
Lucy Davis — Dawn Tinsley
Patrick Baladi — Neil Godwin
Oliver Chris — Ricky Howard
Ralph Ineson — Chris 'Finchy' Finch
Stirling Gallacher — Jennifer Taylor-Clark
Stacey Roca — Rachel
Elizabeth Berrington — Anne
Vincent Franklin — Rowan

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

Season 1: premiered 2001-07-09; final listed air date 2001-08-20; episode order: 6.
Season 2: premiered 2002-09-30; final listed air date 2003-12-27; episode order: 6.

Source and licence

Adapted from The Office on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.