christmas special 1

The Office Christmas Special part 1. First aired 26/12/03

in this episode...

It's been three years since the BBC documentary crew first turned up at the office. Back for one last visit, they find Gareth Keenan now in charge and as the staff of Wernham Hogg know all too well, he runs the office with a military precision.

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.

Brent-ism of the episode
"Dr Dre... Ice-T... They're the equivalent of Wordsworth."

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.

too good to miss out...

Gareth: "I did learn a lot from David. I learned from his mistakes. Okay. We were very different people; he used humour where I use discipline. And I learned that nobody respected him. And in a war situation if you want your platoon to go over the top with you to certain death, it's no good saying to them, 'please come with me lads, I'll tell you a joke.'"

Interviewer: "So are you looking for a relationship?"
David: "I'm not 'shopping' for a relationship. I'm browsing, looking around. If I see a bargain, I've got the money. So… That's a metaphor. I'd never pay for it."