''The Peter Principle'' (broadcast as ''The Boss'' in the United States) is a British television

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 ...

. It was produced by

Hat Trick Productions Hat Trick Productions is an independent British production company that produces television and radio programmes, mainly specialising in comedy, based in London. History Hat Trick Productions was founded in 1986 by Rory McGrath, Jimmy Mulville ...

, and first broadcast by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

between 1995 and 2000 and by

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

in the United States. The series is set in the Aldbridge branch of the fictional County and Provincial Bank, featuring

Jim Broadbent James Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English actor. He won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his supporting role as John Bayley in the feature film ''Iris'' (2001), as well as winning a BAFTA TV Award and a Golden Globe for hi ...

as the title character, its inept manager, and

Claire Skinner Claire Skinner (born 1965) is an English actress, known in the United Kingdom for her television career, particularly playing Sue Brockman from the BBC television series ''Outnumbered (British TV series), Outnumbered''. Early life Claire Skin ...

, Daniel Flynn, Stephen Moore and David Schneider as his employees. The programme takes its name from the

Peter Principle The Peter principle is a concept in management developed by Laurence J. Peter, which observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to "a level of respective incompetence": employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until ...

, a concept in management theory that states that workers are promoted to their level of incompetence.

Characters

*Peter Duffley (Peter Duff in the pilot), Branch Manager (portrayed by

) – Lazy and inept, Peter doesn't seem to take his job too seriously but manages to keep his position and is terrified of the idea of Assistant Manager Susan having any power at the branch. *Susan Harvey, Assistant Manager (

Lesley Sharp Lesley Sharp is an English stage, film and television actress whose roles on British television include ''Clocking Off'' (2000–2001), '' Bob & Rose'' (2001) and ''Afterlife'' (2005–2006). She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actres ...

in the pilot;

in the series) – Career-minded and dedicated, Susan seems to be the person actually running the branch. *David Edwards, Area Manager (

Stuart McQuarrie Stuart McQuarrie (born 19 March 1963) is a Scottish actor who has starred in several acclaimed films, including ''Trainspotting'' and '' 28 Days Later''. Besides numerous film and TV appearances McQuarrie has performed extensively in theatre th ...

in the pilot; Daniel Flynn in the series) – David is dedicated to County and Provincial, and knows that Peter doesn't give the job his all, but has a soft spot for him. *Geoffrey Parkes, Chief Cashier (David Gant in the pilot; Stephen Moore in the series) – Geoffrey has been with the bank all his working life has little regard or time for Peter. He has his ear to the ground but seems happy not to have climbed to a position of greater responsibility and higher stress. *Bradley Wilson, Junior Cashier ( David Schneider) – Tech-savvy but not very intelligent, Bradley always obeys Peter out of a sense of fear. *Iris, Secretary/Chief Clerk (Janette Legge; series 1) – Iris is middle-aged, quite dim, but appears very competent in her position. *Brenda Corrigan, Cashier (series 1; Tracy Keating) – Brenda regards her position at the bank as little more than a pay packet. *Barbara, Secretary/Chief Clerk (series 2;

Beverley Callard Beverley Jane McEwan (''née'' Moxon; previously Atkinson, Sowden and Callard; born 28 March 1957) is an English actress, known for her role as Liz McDonald in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' and Flo Henshaw in ''Two Pints ...

) – Barbara's view of women in the workplace is that they should endeavour to sleep their way to the top. She fails to understand that Susan wishes to climb the ladder on merit alone. *Evelyn Walker, Cashier (series 2; Wendy Nottingham) – After appearing in series 1 as a charity worker, Evelyn works for the bank in series 2. She suffers from bad nerves and spends almost as much time on the phone to the

Samaritans Samaritans (; ; he, שומרונים, translit=Šōmrōnīm, lit=; ar, السامريون, translit=as-Sāmiriyyūn) are an ethnoreligious group who originate from the ancient Israelites. They are native to the Levant and adhere to Samarit ...

as she spends doing her work duties.

Episode list

Pilot (1995)

Series 1 (1997)

Series 2 (2000)

Locations

Exterior scenes for the series were mainly filmed in

Amersham Amersham ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills, northwest of central London, from Aylesbury and from High Wycombe. Amersham is part of the London commuter belt. ...

, Buckinghamshire.

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peter Principle, The 1995 British television series debuts 2000 British television series endings 1990s British sitcoms 2000s British sitcoms BBC television sitcoms English-language television shows 1990s British workplace comedy television series 2000s British workplace comedy television series