July 9, 2001 –
The mockumentary The Office, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, and starring Ricky Gervais and Martin Freeman debuted on BBC Two, on this date.
The series started as a small, home-made video by Stephen Merchant when he was trying to get a job at the BBC. He came up with the idea for making a documentary style format as it would be easier for him to film. He and his colleague Ricky Gervais came up with the series idea and used a local university to film it. Upon seeing the short video the BBC requested that they make a series out of it. Many of the jokes from this original film are recycled during the proper series for example, David Brent’s opening speech about making employees’ dreams come true.
The Haus of Dcaligari 