Felicity Ward is set to be Hannah Howard – Australia’s answer to the UK’s David Brent and the US’s Michael Scott – in a local version of The Office commissioned by Prime Video.
BBC Studios Australia and New Zealand and Bunya Entertainment will produce The Office Australia with Amazon Studios, with the eight-part series to launch globally in 240 countries and territories (excluding the US). Production will start next month in Sydney, with the shoot to take eight weeks.
The Office, which first launched in the UK in 2001, is a BBC Studios format that has been remade for several other territories beyond the US, including France, Canada, Chile, Israel, India, the Middle East and Poland. The Australian version will be the 13th adaptation and the first to have a female-lead.
Ward’s Hannah Howard is the managing director of packaging company Flinley Craddick. When she gets news from Head Office that they will be shutting down her branch and making everyone work from home, she goes into survival mode, making promises she can’t keep in order to keep her “work family” together. The staff of Flinley Craddick indulge her and must endure Hannah’s outlandish plots as they work toward the impossible targets that have been set for them.
Starring alongside Ward are Edith Poor, Steen Raskopoulos, Shari Sebbens, Josh Thomson, Jonny Brugh, Pallavi Sharda, Susan Ling Young, Raj Labade, Lucy Schmit, and Firass Dirani.
Julie De Fina is the lead writer, with Jackie van Beek set-up director, and both are also executive producers with BBC Studios ANZ general manager and creative director Kylie Washington. Sophia Zachariou, Linda Micsko and Greer Simpkin produce, while Christiaan Van Vuuren and Jesse Griffin will also direct.
“We are thrilled to be bringing one of the biggest comedy franchises ever made to Prime Video customers in Australia and around the world,” said Sarah Christie senior development executive Prime Video Australia.
“It is an honour to continue the international comedy legacy of The Office locally while introducing new, quintessentially Australian characters. We can’t wait for audiences to meet Hannah Howard, the first female boss The Office format has explored.”
The Office Australia marks BBC Studios ANZ’s first foray into scripted, a move it flagged with the appointment of Warren Clarke as head of scripted earlier this year.
“Now it’s Australia’s turn,” she said, hinting the series will have “some very Aussie characters”.
“We figured the world is ready for a lovable, flawed, lady boss, ruling over her packaging empire in The Office Australia.”
Zachariou said Ricky Gervais’ David Brent was “a leading light in comedy”.
“The Office UK made the mockumentary form available to a wide audience, and that was its sheer brilliance. I can only hope that global audiences find our Aussie take on The Office as funny, self-deprecating, and believable as those that have gone before it.”
As for Gervais himself, who also co-created and co-wrote the UK original series, he’s excited to see Australia remake his “little show from the turn of the century”.
“Office politics have changed a bit in 20 years, so can’t wait to see how they navigate a modern-day David Brent.”