If you watch and love the Americanized version of the huge British originated TV hit, “The Office”, you’ll really love the original, where the British can actually swear and talk about lude things unlike the stricter US version of the show.  You’ll also wonder why they only did two seasons of the immensely popular show over in Britain, but apparently that was just because the show was too exhaustive for the writer and star, Ricky Gervais, and they decided to direct their efforts elsewhere. 

The British version is a slightly more politically incorrect version of the US version, and the characters are very similar.  For example, there is a love triangle, but the “Jim” character is obviously played by another messy haired guy, and the chemistry between him and the girl he’s in love with (her name in the British version is Dawn), isn’t as intense and Jim and Pam on the US version. 

Ricky Gervais, who plays the main character, the counterpart to Michael Scott, is HILARIOUS and utterly convincing as a wanna-be-liked-by-everyone guy who just goes about it all the wrong way, every time.  He also writes a lot of the material for the show, as well as stars in it and has the most dialogue, so I can see how this must have been an exhausting show for him to do.  The jokes are dirtier, they can swear and say words that we can’t say on television over here, so it kind of catches you off guard, but really in a pleasant “hey, why can’t we say that over here, that’s FUNNY” kind of way. 

You will definitely need to watch it with subtitles though, as some of the British accents will throw you off a bit, and you may miss a few laughs because you can’t understand what they are saying.  I highly recommend this show to anyone who appreciates the humor on the US version of the Office.  If you don’t find it funny, you just might be dead!