The Office review: Australia's take on Ricky Gervais's classic wastes its resources
Despite a talented cast, the adventures of Sydney's Flinley Craddick appear to have missed the mockumentary boat.
Remember how fans of Ricky Gervais's The Office screamed ‘sacrilege’ when NBC announced they’d be swapping Slough for Scranton, Pennsylvania, in a Steve Carell-fronted remake? And how they were soon forced to eat humble pie when it quickly carved out its own hilarious identity, won four Emmys and essentially changed the face of American sitcoms forever?
Of course, that didn’t stop the 13th incarnation of the workplace comedy (it’s been adapted everywhere from Chile to Saudi Arabia) from receiving an almighty drubbing when its first trailer dropped last month.
Indeed, the general consensus appeared to be that Australia’s new version was an embarrassment on a par with their kangaroo-mimicking breakdancer Raygun.
With all eight episodes now available to watch on Amazon Prime Video, it’s clear that the simply-titled The Office isn’t on the Olympian’s car crash level.
In fact, there’s plenty to admire about the show’s transfer to Sydney’s fourth-largest packaging company Flinley Craddick (corporate slogan: "Think inside the box"), particularly the fact that, for the first time ever, a woman has been put in charge.
Played by stand-up Felicity Ward, boss Hannah Howard isn’t as spiteful as David Brent, nor is she as unempathetic as Michael Scott.
In the second episode, for example, she goes great lengths to avoid job cuts, reframing the recent death of a forgettable employee in a bid to stave off Head Office: her pitiful makeshift wake, complete with food delivery driver eulogy and a PowerPoint tribute involving little more than a driving licence photo and the sound of Boyz II Men, is cringe comedy up there with Gervais's finest.
She even struggles to give two part-time cleaners their marching orders, ultimately gifting them the Roombas intended as their replacements.
As the kind of ‘wacky’ personality who still finds Borat’s ‘my wife’ catchphrase amusing and spits her dummy out during playful fashion parades, she’s still inherently annoying.
"Hannah is a riddle, swallowed by an idiot, s*** out by a moron," remarks head of finance Deborah (Lucy Schmidt) in one of the show’s most astute asides.
However, as revealed in the finale, she has a heart of gold underneath all that dimwittery, and Ward delivers a performance which largely manages to garner more sympathy than pity.
Regular The Office viewers will also recognise several other key characters. Sales reps Nick (Steen Raskopoulos) and Greta (Shari Sebbens) are blatantly being positioned as the Tim and Dawn/Jim and Pam of the series, although they’ve yet to find the kind of chemistry that will make their inevitable union – Greta has one of those generic waste-of-space boyfriends in which you can’t imagine what possible scenario they ever got together – must-see TV.
And Hannah’s right-hand-woman Lizzie (Edith Poor) is the show’s answer to Gareth/Dwight, a militant jobsworth determined to stamp her limited authority on a disinterested workforce by any means necessary. "Sitting is the new smoking," she barks while confiscating the office chairs in the apparent name of productivity.
Sadly, the original characters don’t make as much of an impact. The hapless Lloyd (Jonny Brugh) is pretty much Motherland’s drippy dad Kevin in head of IT form. Intern Sebastian (Raj Labade) is required to do little more than give constant side eye, while humourless head of human resources Martin’s (Josh Thomson) screentime is largely limited to the countless pieces-to-camera filmed in front of a deeply depressing blinded window.
This over-reliance on such narrative devices is indicative of a show which, other than the gender-reversed casting, wastes the opportunity to bring something new to the corporate table.
The mockumentary format’s tropes have arguably now become as stale as the more traditional sitcom’s it was trying to subvert. By the umpteenth fourth-wall break, Australia’s The Office starts to feel less like a reinvention and more like a copy of a facsimile.
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And although the sixth episode’s staff training programme will rile up the anti-woke brigade, the series largely fails to reflect the changes in office culture since Wernham Hogg and Dunder Mifflin allowed TV crews through their doors.
The advent of remote working is brushed off within the opening 10 minutes as Flinley Craddick’s staff, on being told they’re now being forced to commute full-time, turn from anger into acceptance in record time.
Ironically, the best episode is when it ventures outside its mundane setting: an impromptu trip to an interactive reptile experience (basically a few snakes in a redneck’s shed) designed to boost staff morale will draw shudders of recognition from anyone who’s experienced the forced joviality of the corporate away day.
It’s the only time The Office suggests it has the potential to evolve should a second season get the green light.
Of course, let’s not forget its American predecessor took time in finding its footing. But at a time when the likes of fellow Aussie exports Colin from Accounts, Fisk and Deadloch are making comedic leaps forward, its all-too-familiar beats feel like a regressive step back.
All eight episodes of The Office are available to stream on Amazon from 18th October – you can sign up now for a free 30-day Prime Video trial.
If you’re looking for something else to watch in the meantime, check out our TV Guide and Streaming Guide, or visit our dedicated Comedy hub. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
