BBC Studios executive vows The Office Australia will ‘pay respect’ to the original British classic

The Down Under version of famed U.K. sitcom The Office will soon go into production, with comedian Felicity Ward in the role made famous by Ricky Gervais.

And fans can expect the local version to have the same famously naughty style as the original, but with a distinctive Aussie flavour, claim the show’s producers.

‘Everyone loves the show and has an opinion about it, and then all of a sudden, here you are with the Australian version in your hands,’ explains Kylie Washington, general manager and creative director of BBC Studios, the show’s producer.

‘You want to keep the DNA of the show that has made it so successful,’ Washington continued in an interview with Media Week on Thursday.

‘It’s absolutely paying respects to that – we’re not throwing the baby out with the bath water and reinventing, that’s not what you do when you’re working with a format.’

 Comedian Felicity Ward will play the lead in the Aussie version. Pictured

Fans can expect the local version to have the same famously naughty style as the original. Pictured: Kylie Washington of BBC Studios who are producing the reboot 

Names as big as Isla Fisher and Magda Szubanski have been rumoured to take on the lead role made famous by Ricky Gervais in the iconic BBC sitcom over the years. 

But Daily Mail Australia revealed exclusively last week that the star is a relatively unknown comedian set to claim the role of the office boss in the Aussie remake.

Felicity Ward (The Inbetweeners 2, Spicks and Specks) is the successful candidate for the role that made Steve Carell a household name in the Emmy award winning US remake.

The 42-year-old will play Hannah Howard, the cringe-inducing managing director of packaging company Flinley Craddick.

Names as big as Isla Fisher and Magda Szubanski were rumoured to take on the lead role made famous by Ricky Gervais in the iconic BBC sitcom. Pictured: Gervais with the cast of the original 2001 BBC production of The Office

Elsewhere in the chat, Washington said that the rest of the cast has been filled out with ‘comedic actors’ skilled at improvisation.

It comes after KIIS FM shock jock Kyle Sandilands slammed casting of the local version after news broke that female stars including Magda Szubanski, Celia Pacquola, and Kitty Flanagan, had all tipped been once tipped to be in the running for the lead role.

‘That’ll be a disaster, I feel,’ said Kyle. ‘Because they’ve cast all the wrong types of people.’

He continued, ‘What they should have done, is used a cast of people that no one has ever seen before, like what happened with the original Office.’

‘I mean you can’t go past Ricky Gervais,’ added co-host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson. 

‘The British Office was the best one’

‘It’s going to be like a Kath & Kim spoof,’ Kyle predicted.

A popular U.S. version of the show starring Steve Carrell ran 9 seasons, after debuting in 2005

The Office Australia is being produced by BBC Studios ANZ and Bunya Entertainment for Prime Video.

The original BBC version of The Office, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant debuted in 2001, and ultimately consisted of 12 episodes of two seasons.

In 2000 Merchant and Gervais re-united with the original to produce a critically acclaimed and hugely popular two-part Christmas Special.  

A popular U.S. version of the show starring Steve Carrell ran 9 seasons, after debuting in 2005.