The Office

A documentary crew films the activities of the Slough branch of paper merchant Wernham Hogg. The regional manager is David Brent, a middle-aged man who mistakenly thinks he is as likeable as he is entertaining. Among his employees are Dawn Tinsley, his receptionist; Tim Canterbury, a sales representative; and Gareth Keenan, his sycophantic assistant. David’s boss Jennifer Taylor-Clarke tells him that Wernham Hogg cannot run both a Slough and Swindon branch, and that the most efficient will incorporate the other. David panics at the prospect of his branch being closed and his employees made redundant, but promises to keep it secret; rumours spread around the office. David hires a new forklift driver and shows new temp Ricky Howard around the office. Tim annoys Gareth by putting his stapler inside a jelly, and later dropping it out of a window. After being confronted about redundancies, David holds a meeting and explains the situation; employees are immediately worried for their jobs. David pretends Dawn is being fired for stealing Post-it notes, but his joke backfires when she starts crying and he awkwardly comes clean.

David introduces a new employee, Donna—who is staying with him as a favour to her parents—and grows uncomfortable with the attention she receives from male employees. Brent discovers a pornographic image with his face superimposed onto the body of a naked woman and finds that everybody in the office has seen it. He covers his embarrassment by pretending to be angry because the image "offends women", and gives Gareth the task of finding the culprit; Tim mocks Gareth as he takes it far too seriously. Jennifer asks David if he has made any changes. He says that he has already dismissed a warehouse employee, but after being undermined by sexist warehouse workers, Jennifer discovers that he was lying. Gareth tells David that Tim created the image, and David reprimands him in an effort to prove himself to Jennifer. Tim reveals that it was in fact David’s friend Chris Finch who created it, and Brent’s attitude changes entirely; he calls it "bloody hilarious". Jennifer suggests that David apologise to Tim and fire Finch instead, and David dials a telephone and stages a firing. Jennifer presses the speakerphone button, revealing that he called the speaking clock instead.

It’s Tim’s 30th birthday and the staff pub quiz night, which David and Chris Finch have won six years in a row. However, this year, Brent and Finch have some legitimate competition in former university student Ricky, who reveals he once appeared on Blockbusters. During the quiz, Brent and Finch tie with Tim and Ricky and quizmaster Gareth announces a sudden death scenario: whoever answers correctly first wins. The question "Which Shakespeare play features a character called Caliban?" is correctly answered by Ricky first (The Tempest). Despite Finch’s protests, Gareth declares Tim and Ricky the winners. Brent and Finch are not happy and challenge Ricky to a winner-takes-all challenge: if Finch can throw Tim’s shoe over the building, he and David will be the winners.

It is staff training day at Wernham Hogg, and an outside facilitator, Rowan, has come to educate the Slough branch about customer care. David is determined to undermine him at every opportunity by offering unhelpful suggestions and needless interruptions. Meanwhile, Dawn and her fiancé Lee are having trouble with their relationship. During the day-long training session, frustration builds amongst the staff, and David eventually breaks into song, singing self-penned titles such as "Spaceman" , "Freelove Freeway" and " The Serpent Who Guards The Gates of Hell" comforting Dawn with "Goodnight My Sweet Princess", a composition about Princess Diana. Dawn and Lee reconcile outside. Rowan eventually loses patience with Brent and ends the session. Tim, equally frustrated with the situation and the pointlessness of his job, quits in front of the entire staff. Before he goes, he publicly asks Dawn to accompany him for a drink, now that she is single. She quietly informs him that she has made up with Lee, and Tim attempts to play it off as a friendly offer.

David decides to hire a secretary, despite redundancies of current Wernham Hogg employees threatening morale. He hires an attractive woman (not even considering a male applicant), and ends up headbutting her while showing off his football skills. Meanwhile, Gareth tries to flirt with Donna by giving her health and safety training. Tim has resolved to quit his job, determined to go back to university. To change his mind, Brent convinces Tim to go out with him, Gareth, and Finch to the Chasers nightclub, where "Wonderbras get in free". But with Finch at his lecherous worst and David far from happy with his behaviour, the evening does not go well.

David dismisses a warehouse worker and is accused of positive discrimination because he fired an able bodied worker instead of a "midget". As he takes his new secretary around the office, he dodges questions about the branch’s future and attempts to play them off with jokes. He ridicules Tim’s desire to leave and pursue his education. Jennifer informs David of an opening in her position, and that the board has voted for him, rather than Neil, to get it. If he accepts, his branch will be shut down and absorbed by Swindon. Brent chooses immediately to take it, and breaks the news to his staff. Everybody seems prepared for redundancy as dislike of David reaches an all-time high. At that night’s party, David announces that he rejected the corporate position and that jobs at the Slough branch are safe. Malcolm confronts David with rumours that he failed the position’s mandatory medical examination; Brent fake-smiles and says that he deliberately raised his blood pressure in order to fail the test, ignoring Malcolm’s incredulity at his claim. Back at the party, Tim accepts Brent’s offer of a promotion if he stays. Dawn seems disappointed and disillusioned with Tim giving up his dreams.