Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5124 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-10-20
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 220 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The second series of the award-winning BBC2 mockudrama The Office exceeded even the sky-high standards of the first. Indeed, it ventured beyond caricature and satire, touching on the very edge of darkness. Ricky Gervais was once again excruciatingly superb as David Brent, a subtly shaded modern English comic grotesque in the desperate and self-deluding tradition of Alan Partridge and Basil Fawlty.

In this series, however, Brent's to-camera assertions concerning his man-management qualities and executive capabilities are seriously challenged when the Slough and Swindon branches are merged and his former Swindon equivalent Neil takes over as area manager. To compensate Brent cultivates his pathologically mistaken image of himself as an entertainer/motivator/comedian whose stage happens to be the workplace. This culminates in a comically disastrous motivational session ending with a sing-along of Tina Turner's "Simply the Best", which is greeted, typically, with stunned, appalled silence.

Meanwhile, Tim, who can only maintain his sanity by teasing the priggish, puddingbowl-haired Gareth, continues to wrestle with his yearning for receptionist Dawn, a sympathetic character persisting with a relationship with a yobbish bloke about whom she still maintains unspoken reservations. As ever, it's the awkward, reality TV-style pauses and silences, the furtive, meaningful and unmet glances across the emotional gulf of the open-plan office, that say it all here.

As for Brent, his own breakdown is prefaced by a moment of hideous hilarity--an impromptu office dance, a mixture of "Flashdance and MC Hammer" as Brent describes it, but in reality bad beyond description. Then, when his fate is sealed, he at last reveals himself as a humiliated and broken man in a memorable finale to perhaps the greatest British sitcom, besides Fawlty Towers, ever made. All this and Keith too. --David Stubbs

On the DVD: The Office, Series 2 is a single-disc release unlike the more generous Series 1. Extra features are enjoyable nonetheless. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant feature in a gleefully shambolic video diary--highlights of which include Gervais flicking elastic bands at his cowriter and taping their editor to his swivel chair. The ubiquitous Gervais also mockingly introduces some outtakes (mostly of him corpsing throughout dozens of takes) and a series of deleted scenes, notably of Gareth arriving in his horrendous cycle shorts. --Mark Walker

DVD Description
David Brent returns to work in the office that took Britain by storm and grabbed middle-managers by their balls. His 'unique' management style in this multi-award winning spoof fly-on-the-wall documentary had office workers squirming on their sofas. We find out who has kept their jobs (just how Brent managed to keep his remains a mystery). The Slough and Swindon branches have now merged, and David has a suave, sophisticated and obviously popular new boss, not his type at all. Neither are the Swindon staff, a serious, professional group. One is black and another disabled, giving Brent a perfect opportunity to display the most appalling, unthinking prejudice. And, with Tim still pursuing receptionist Dawn, a water cooler romance might be on the agenda.

Special Features

• Out-takes
  
• Video Diary
  
• Deleted scenes

  DVD Technical Information:
  

  • Subtitles: English SDH
    
  • Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
    
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
    
  • PAL
    
  • Disc Type: DVD-9
    
  • Region Code: 2, 4
    
  • Total Running Time: 173 minutes approx.

Customer Reviews

"Hes thrown a shoe over a pub, what have you ever done"
Gervais and Merchant are simply genius' of their generation. How someone can mimmick real life is outstanding.From Tim and Dawn's attraction to each other, which is not overblown to typical, hollywood love story proportions, to Brent's un-orthodox management style, that truly makes the watcher cringe. Gareth and Tims ongoing arguements are, for me, the highlight of the series, making a superb double act.
If you want a real, true to life, ground-breaking comedy, then The Office is exactly what you should purchase. If you just give the first episode a chance, and get used to the concept of The Office, i can pretty much guarentee you'll love it.
If you dont, then your clearly a My Family fan.

office: series 2
I loved the Office when it came out but hadn't seen any episodes for a couple of years, so I decided to buy the 2nd series DVD (partly because I remembered thinking at the time it was definitely superior to the 1st series), and I have to say I sat down watched the entire thing back to back in one go. The way this show manages to switch from moments of awesomely banal, cringeworthy humour to some of the most absurdly profound and affecting drama you've ever seen (sometimes within the space of just a few seconds) is something that will probably never be replicated in another tv show. This show hasn't lost any of it's original impact, and I was blown away watching it again just as much as I was the first time round. The Office deserves 6 stars.

Impressive Second Series
I think that it is fair to say that the second series of "The Office" doesn't quite scale the heights of the first. However that said , it remains amusing throughout with some memorable highlights. In this series, David Brent's Slough team integrate with their Swindon counterparts causing various problems for Brent,namely that the whole Swindon team neither like nor respect him. Worst of all for Brent is his new boss,nemesis Neil Godwin, a popular,capable and authoritative figure who patronises and outshines Brent in every episode, much to his chagrin. The usual likeable bunch of characters feature in this second series and their interrelationships are the strength of this classic comedy. Funniest moment for me, apart from the underused Finchy's cameos, would be Neil and Rachel's "Saturday Night Fever" dance. The look on Brent's face...