‘You’re not going to make everyone happy’: Can The Office win over Australia?

When Shari Sebbens and Steen Raskopoulos were rehearsing for the Australian adaptation of The Office, they were each given $50 and sent on a date. They had three hours and were told to catch the ferry. “We got dumplings and went to Timezone,” says Sebbens, laughing. “It was actually the perfect first date.”

The pair play Greta and Nick, the workmates whose low-key, good-humoured flirtation is at the centre of The Office. They are the Aussie Tim and Dawn, Parramatta’s Jim and Pam. “We are the love story,” says Raskopoulos. “It’s the heartbeat of the show.”

They are also the least controversial part of one of the biggest swings on Australian television: the local adaptation of an iconic comedy, which has been met with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation ever since it was announced.

The “love story of The Office: Greta King (Shari Sebbens) and Nick Fletcher (Steen Raskopoulos).

“I was terrified … at the idea of it because everyone has said, like, nobody wants to remake The Office,” says Sebbens. “Nobody sets out to do that in their career because it’s mad. And I read the scripts, and I had to talk to my agent and have a big, you know, real convo about what this is, to do a remake of this scale and of something that holds such importance in popular culture.”

Importance is almost an understatement. The original British version, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant in 2001, has long been lauded as the modern-day benchmark for TV comedy.

Set up as a mockumentary over 14 near-perfect episodes, it followed the employees of Slough paper company Wernham Hogg and their gormless boss David Brent. And while the audience tuned in for Gervais’ skin-crawling portrayal of Brent, it was the budding romance between Tim and Dawn (Martin Freeman and Lucy Davis) that kept them watching.

The show was then transplanted to the US in 2005 – the first of 12 remakes – with Steve Carell as Michael Scott, boss of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, and John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer as the romantic leads Jim and Pam. Although it initially stumbled in the ratings, the US version found its feet as a gentler, kinder update on its British counterpart and, over nine seasons, it became an award-winning international smash.

The cast of the UK Office (from left): Mackenzie Crook, Ricky Gervais, Lucy Davis and Martin Freeman.

Elsewhere, it was a mixed bag. The majority of adaptations crashed after one season (France, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic and Saudi Arabia), with only Germany’s Stromberg – set in an insurance office – lasting five seasons.

Now it’s Australia’s turn, with Hannah Howard (comedian Felicity Ward) the managing director of Sydney packaging company Flinley Craddick (“Think inside the box”).

It comes with the seal of approval of Gervais and Merchant – although Gervais was apparently initially concerned about the gender flip of his character – while fans of The Office are curious at best, cruel at worst.

The US version of The Office (from left): John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fischer, B.J. Novak and Steve Carell. Credit: Mitchell Haaseth

“The Raygun of The Office cinematic universe,” wrote one person on Facebook when the trailer was released in mid-September. Others chimed in with, “I hate it already” and “Talk about something literally nobody asked for.”

Ask Sebbens and Raskopoulos if they are bothered by the criticism and it’s quite simply a no.

“The biggest thing for me is I’m Aboriginal, so when comment sections popped up, I learned not to read them,” says Sebbens. “I fully believe that the internet, it’s a wonderful place because everyone has an opinion, but also everyone has an opinion.

“It’s all part and parcel. You’re not going to make everyone happy. All we can do, and all we have been doing, is having complete faith and trust in the show that we made and the good spirit, the true, joyous spirit, that it was made in.

Felicity Ward and Edith Poor as Hannah Howard and Lizzie Moyle in the Australian version of The Office.

“No actor wants to go and do a shitty job anyway. So when you do read [the criticism], you go, oh, I wish people would remember that actually, actors are just trying to make a living and make some fun, creative career choices. But you can’t let it get to you.”

Raskopoulos agrees. “Comedy is so subjective, and also the show hasn’t even come out. How are you going to cram in eight half-hour episodes into a two-and-a-half minute trailer, especially for something that is so well established? I’m really excited for people to see the actual episodes and how the characters progress.

“I refused to watch the US Office until 2017 because everyone told me, ‘It’s not as good as the UK one.’ So it took me that long to watch it, and it’s now my favourite show. I watched it five times from cover to cover in lockdown.”

So why do an Australian version? It’s not as if we haven’t already nailed the workplace comedy, all you need to do is take a look at Frontline, Utopia and Fisk.

“It’s quite a bit of pressure with it being such a famous format,” says Jackie van Beek, the show’s co-writer and lead director who worked with head writer and executive producer Julie de Fina. “So, of course, my first question, in my own mind was, why would we do this?

“But when I found out it was the first time the show would have a female in that amazing leading role, I was completely sold. I’m someone who loves female, comedic-driven projects. I am also obsessed with mockumentary. So I was like, there’s absolutely no way I could pass on the offer.”

Felicity Ward (left) with director Jackie Van Beek on the set of The Office.

Set in western Sydney, the office’s dowdy grey interiors, slat blinds and prison-like meeting room will be instantly recognisable to Office fans (disappointingly, there appear to be no staplers trapped in jelly).

In terms of tone, the Australian adaptation leans more towards the US version’s warmer vibe. Unlike the UK original, no one is particularly cruel, but Ward goes all in on the cringe as boss Hannah Howard. Like Gervais’ Brent, there’s a loneliness to her, so when an order comes from head office that everyone must work remotely, Hannah makes attendance mandatory to boost production and keep her work family together.

“It’s very real, it’s very playful, it’s quite raw,” says Van Beek of Ward’s performance. “She was able to give us that comedy, but also that pathos. We worked hard to invite her to show Hannah Howard’s vulnerability, just little moments of it, those cracks in a character that is so bold and forward, [and] Felicity was not afraid to go there either.”

Helping Hannah out, is her No.1 sycophant and receptionist Lizzie Moyle (New Zealander Edith Poor. The show is stacked with vaguely familiar Kiwi actors. “Most of us work in Australia,” says van Beek, also a Kiwi).

“Julie and I worked hard to differentiate the characters [from the UK and US versions] whilst staying close enough to the format, so people wouldn’t be disappointed,” says Van Beek. “But changing enough that people wouldn’t be bored.”

Hannah Howard (Felicity Ward), Greta King (Shari Sebbens), Nick Fletcher (Steen Raskopoulos) celebrate the Melbourne Cup in The Office. 

For Sebbens and Raskopoulos, finding something new in Greta and Nick was the challenge, they couldn’t just be Tim/Jim/Dawn/Pam 2.0.

“I deliberately didn’t go back and watch anything,” says Sebbens. “The last time I watched the UK one is over 10 years ago. I’d watched the American one in 2020 – I got the job in 2022 – and I was like, ‘Don’t go back and watch because you’ve got to let those actors and their interpretation of those characters live on their own.’ And you’ve got to have faith in what you and Steen can bring to this.”

That meant making sure Greta “wasn’t just giggly girlfriend material, but someone that bit back herself, which, I think, is very Australian as well,” says Sebbens. “There’s a groundedness about her and no bullshit about her.”

Raskopoulos, meanwhile, describes Nick as a “real sweetheart”. “I tried to play him as honest as possible … but in saying that, I do take the piss out of a lot of people, a lot throughout the show, with a very straight face.”

While Sebbens has more office and acting experience – she’s a true triple threat, acting, writing and directing in everything from The Sapphires, to Redfern Now and the upcoming Top End Bub TV series – Raskopoulos relied on a wonky office chair and his stand-up comedy audiences for inspiration.

“I’ve met enough office types to give me enough method experience over my years,” he says. “Especially at a lot of my comedy shows, where the suits rock up, especially at Christmastime for their office Christmas parties, which are always lovely to perform.”

Taking the method acting principle one step further was Van Beek, who set out to “intentionally bore” the cast, so by the time filming began everyone was able to look like they’d been there for years.

“I made them sit at their desks for, I think it was like 10 minutes,” says Van Beek. “They weren’t allowed to make phone calls, they weren’t allowed to talk to each other. They could type on their computers and things. And then after 15 minutes or so, I said, ‘OK, we’re going to change it up. You’re allowed to make one phone call.’

“And then after 15 minutes of that, I said, ’OK, you can, you can get up, not all at once, but you can get up, and maybe if you have an impulse to go and talk to someone else in the office, you can, but it has to be about something boring. I don’t want any stories. I don’t want to hear there’s a fire. Just talk about the stapler.”

That makes Van Beek sound like she’s the nightmare boss. All work and no play.

“We always started with backyard cricket,” says Van Beek. “That was their treat in the morning, a game of cricket.”

As for whether the show is a hit, like Sebbens and Raskopoulos, Van Beek is also not bothered.

“There will be lovers and there’ll be haters, and it really is just part of the circus,” she says. “I do try not to take things too seriously, either. I work very hard, and I take my work seriously, but you have to remember that we’re just making comedy. Trying to make people laugh and have a nice time and brighten up people’s lives and cheer people up. I refuse to pace about my house, kind of anxious and stressed because it’s not the point.”

The Office streams on Prime Video from October 18.

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