It’s the 13th regional variation of The Office, but can an Australian version recapture the magic?
Prime Video have released a trailer for their version of The Office.
The British sitcom, written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, made a star of Gervais as the deluded David Brent and his colleagues at the Slough branch of the Wernham Hogg paper company.
Famously, it only ran for two seasons – although the show wrapped with a pair of Christmas Specials and a follow-on David Brent movie.
The Office has been adapted a dozen times with varying degrees of success. Most notably, the American iteration ran for nine seasons starring Steve Carell as Michael Scott.
The show was an early proponent of the “mockumentary” format which felt fresh at the time. However, it’s something we’ve seen on shows like Parks and Recreation and Modern Family. It will be interesting to see if the appeal still holds.
23 years on, the Australian version stars Felicity Ward as Hannah Howard, managing director of Flinley Craddick, a packaging company.
Here’s the setup for The Office Australia:
When Hannah gets news from the Head Office that they will be shutting down her branch and making everyone work from home, she goes into survival mode, making promises she can’t keep in order to keep her “work family” together. The staff of Flinley Craddick indulge her and must endure Hannah’s outlandish plots as they work toward the impossible targets that have been set for them.
Felicity Ward said:
“I’ve never been so excited to play an optimist incompetent trapped in her own delulu. Hannah Howard is every bit the disappointment of a boss we’d all hope she’d be.”
Executive producers and writers, Julie De Fina and Jackie van Beek added:
“We hope that audiences love watching the thirteenth version of The Office as much as we loved making the thirteenth version of The Office. Great cast, superb crew, excellent catering.”
The eight-part Australian Amazon Original series The Office comes from BBC Studios Australia & New Zealand, Bunya Entertainment, and Amazon MGM Studios, and is based on a BBC Studios format.
The Office premieres worldwide (except the U.S.) on 18th October, 2024 at Prime Video.