Home > The Office (UK) > Christmas Special
The Office (UK): Christmas Special (2003)
Episodes
Since we last saw David Brent he has become a sales rep for a cleaning products company, released his own pop single and has acquired a showbiz agent to look after his celebrity appearances. He visits his old place of work regularly, despite him successfully suing Wernham Hogg for unfair dismissal.
The big news as far as Tim is concerned is the imminent arrival of Dawn. The documentary crew has kindly offered to fly Dawn and boyfriend Lee from Florida back to Slough for the office Christmas party - an event that may well have a wet T-shirt competition if Keith has anything to do with it.
Tv Season Info
Critic Reviews for The Office (UK) Christmas Special
All Critics (12) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (11) | Rotten (1)
The first half of their post-series Christmas special was among the most challenging hours of television ever produced. The second half half, however, offered the small moment of joy that the show had been fighting for the entire show.
But The Office finale isn't a downer; it offers the characters some hope and a chance at redemption--even David.
"The Office Special" is a grand finale to one of television's best, smartest and funniest series ever.
It integrates the boredom, self-delusion, dashed hopes and struggle for power into something bigger, and potentially better, and functions not only as a continuation of the story but a convincing conclusion.
Plus, the laughs are still there, and are as painful as ever as they focus on Brent's disastrous attempts to find post-reality TV fame.
Gervais and Merchant's series disguise themselves as comedies of cruelty, but after a while, they reveal themselves to be comedies of dignity, series that are about people who continue to be crushed by the world but finally rise above their circumstances.
Tonight's two-hour special episode of "The Office" on BBC America is as wickedly, painfully funny as the first two seasons and, in tiny, fleeting doses, as delicately tender.
Above all, Ted Whitehead's script strikes a subtle balance between authenticity and accessibility.
The Christmas Special was one of the most depressing comedies I have ever watched. David Brent (Gervais) gets his happy ending but only after being put through the wringer for over an hour.
Though the series itself trades heavily in dark humor, the specials offer a bit of a happy ending for most of the characters.
The Office Christmas special then captures the real secret of the season: it can be melancholy or it can be miraculous.
The Office didn't need to be quite as wincemakingly hilarious, deliciously touching and, ultimately, as perfectly emotionally pitched as it turned out to be.
Audience Reviews for The Office (UK): Christmas Special
There are no featured audience reviews yet. Click the link below to see what others say about The Office (UK): Christmas Special!
See All Audience Reviews