''Office Gossip'' is a British

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

that aired on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

in 2001. Starring

Pauline Quirke Pauline Perpetua Sheen ( Quirke; born 8 July 1959) is an English actress who has played Sharon Theodopolopodous in the long-running comedy series '' Birds of a Feather'' (1988–1999, 2014–2017). For this role, she won the 1990 British Comed ...

, it was written by

Paul Mayhew-Archer Paul Mayhew-Archer MBE (born 6 January 1953Find The Company: ''Pau ...

, who co-wrote ''

The Vicar of Dibley ''The Vicar of Dibley'' is a British sitcom which originally ran on BBC One from 10 November 1994 to 1 January 2007. It is set in a fictional small Oxfordshire village called Dibley, which is assigned a female vicar following the 1992 changes ...

'', and George Pritchett. Recently, it has been aired in the United States on various PBS stations as part of 'One Season Wonders.WITF
/ref>

Cast

– Jo Thomas *

Robert Daws Robert Daws (born 4 May 1959) is an English actor, and crime fiction author. He is best known for his television roles, including Tuppy Glossop in ''Jeeves and Wooster'' (1990-93), gruff cricketer Roger Dervish in the comedy ''Outside Edge'' ( ...

– Rod Battle *

Neil Stuke Neil Robert Stuke (born 22 February 1966 in Deal, Kent) is an English actor best known for his role of Matthew in the TV sitcom '' Game On'' and more recently for playing Billy Lamb in the BBC legal drama ''Silk''. Career Stuke played Matthew i ...

– Simon *

Pippa Haywood Philippa Haywood (born 6 May 1961) is a British actress. She won the 2005 Rose d'Or Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for ''Green Wing'' (2004–2006). Her other television credits include ''The Brittas Empire'' (1991–1997), Chimera (19 ...

– Maxine Wells *

Daniela Denby-Ashe Daniela Jolanta Denby-Ashe (born 9 August 1978) is an English actress. She is best known for playing Sarah Hills on the soap opera ''EastEnders'', Margaret Hale on the period drama ''North and South'', and Janey Harper on the BBC sitcom ''My F ...

– Cheryl Potts *Charlotte Francis – Sam Thomas

Plot

Set in the office Tippins Toys Ltd, ''Office Gossip'' concentrates on the love lives of Jo Thomas and Simon, who sit opposite each other. Jo is a single mother, her daughter is eleven-year-old Sam, and is the hardworking PA to Rod Battle. Battle, a workaholic whose wife is on the verge of leaving him, confides in Jo and she clearly harbours feelings for him. Meanwhile, Simon is having an affair with his boss, Maxine, a married woman. Both of these relationships, especially Jo and Rod's, become the subject of gossip in the office, often led by Cheryl.

Episodes

Title song

The title song was sung by

and

Jenna Russell Jenna Russell (born 5 October 1967) is an English actress and singer. She has appeared on the stage in London in both musicals and dramas, as well as appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She performed the role of Dot in ''Sunday in the ...

Reception

''Office Gossip'', despite having a good cast and prime time slot of Friday at 9pm on

, did not receive positive reviews and was pulled after only one series. The first episode received 6.6 million viewers, but by the sixth episode only 4.4 million people tuned in.

References

Mark Lewisohn Mark Lewisohn (born 16 June 1958) is an English historian and biographer. Since the 1980s, he has written many reference books about the Beatles and has worked for EMI, MPL Communications and Apple Corps.

, "Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy", BBC Worldwide Ltd, 2003
British TV Comedy Guide for ''Office Gossip''

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Office Gossip 2001 British television series debuts 2001 British television series endings 2000s British sitcoms BBC television sitcoms