BBC Studios executive vows The Office Australia will ‘pay respect’ to the original British classic and stay true to its DNA
The Down Under version of the famous British sitcom The Office will soon enter production, starring comedian Felicity Ward in the role made famous by Ricky Gervais.
And fans can expect the local version to have the same famously mischievous style as the original, but with a quintessentially Aussie flavour, the show’s producers claim.
“Everyone loves the show and has an opinion on it, and then all of a sudden you’ve got your hands on the Australian version,” explains Kylie Washington, managing director and creative director of BBC Studios, the show’s producer.
“You want to keep the DNA of the show that made it so successful,” Washington continued in an interview with Media week on Thursday.
“We absolutely respect that. We don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater and reinvent ourselves, you don’t do that when you work with a format.’
The Down Under version of the famous British sitcom The Office will soon enter production. Pictured: Ricky Gervais as David Brent in the original version of The Office
Comedian Felicity Ward will star in the Aussie version. pictured
Fans can expect the local version to have the same famous mischievous style as the original. Pictured: BBC Studios’ Kylie Washington producing the reboot
Rumors have it that names as big as Isla Fisher and Magda Szubanski will take on the lead role made famous by Ricky Gervais in the iconic BBC sitcom over the years.
But Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed last week that the star is a relatively unknown comedian who will take on the role of an office boss in the Aussie remake.
Felicity Ward (The Inbetweeners 2, Spicks and Specks) is the successful candidate for the role that made Steve Carell a household name in the Emmy award-winning American remake.
The 42-year-old plays Hannah Howard, the chilling general manager of packaging company Flinley Craddick.
Names as big as Isla Fisher and Magda Szubanski were rumored to be taking on the lead role made famous by Ricky Gervais in the iconic BBC sitcom. Pictured: Gervais with the cast of the original 2001 BBC production of The Office
Elsewhere in the chat, Washington said the rest of the cast is filled with “comedy actors” adept at improvisation.
It comes after KIIS FM shock jock Kyle Sandilands rejected the casting of the local version after news broke that female stars, including Magda Szubanski, Celia Pacquola and Kitty Flanagan, had all been tipped to be in the running for the lead role one day.
“It’s going to be a disaster, I think,” Kyle said. “Because they cast all the wrong kinds of people.”
He continued, “What they should have done is use a cast of people that no one has ever seen before, like what happened with the original Office.”
“I mean, you can’t go past Ricky Gervais,” co-host Jackie “O” Henderson added.
‘The UK office was the best’
“It’s going to be a Kath & Kim spoof,” Kyle predicted.
A popular American version of the show starring Steve Carrell ran for 9 seasons, after debuting in 2005
The Office Australia is produced by BBC Studios ANZ and Bunya Entertainment for Prime Video.
The original BBC version of The Office, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, debuted in 2001 and eventually consisted of 12 episodes over two seasons.
In 2000, Merchant and Gervais reunited with the original to produce a critically acclaimed and hugely popular two-part Christmas special.
A popular American version of the show starring Steve Carrell ran for 9 seasons, after debuting in 2005.