50 free The Office (UK) trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Before Scranton there was Slough. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's The Office ran for just twelve episodes and a two-part Christmas special on BBC Two and BBC One, yet it became the first British comedy ever to win a Golden Globe and the template for the American remake and a dozen other versions. These 50 questions cover the whole run in order: the Wernham Hogg premise, David Brent's gaffes, Gareth's Territorial Army boasts, the pub quiz, the stapler in jelly, Neil Godwin and the Swindon merger, Red Nose Day, the redundancy, and the Christmas specials that finally got Tim and Dawn together. There are also questions on the theme song, the 1998 short film that started it all, the Microsoft training videos and David Brent: Life on the Road. Easy questions check you know who plays whom; the expert tier asks about Gareth's car, the original songwriter of Handbags and Gladrags, and the BBC clerical error that nearly cost Gervais a BAFTA. Every answer is cited, with a short explanation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On which channel was The Office first broadcast on 9 July 2001?
BBC Two
Ratings were modest at first; the Christmas specials were later moved to BBC One to chase a bigger audience.
Q 02What is the name of the fictional paper company at the centre of the series?
Wernham Hogg
Its slogan is the pun "life is stationery"; Dunder Mifflin is the American remake's equivalent.
Q 03In which town is the branch where the series is set?
Slough
The office sits on the Slough Trading Estate; Swindon is the rival branch whose staff arrive in series two.
Q 04Which pun completes the paper company's motto, "life is ___"?
stationery
The joke is the whole company in four words: a paper merchant whose life is going nowhere.
Q 05What meaningless title does Gareth take far too seriously?
Team Leader
Tim points out it means more responsibility for the same pay; Gareth also calls himself Assistant Regional Manager, which Brent corrects.
Q 06Who plays sales rep Tim Canterbury?
Martin Freeman
Tim's American counterpart is Jim Halpert; Freeman went on to The Hobbit and Sherlock.
Q 07Who plays Gareth Keenan?
Mackenzie Crook
Gareth was written as a tough military type until Crook's audition made the pair reinterpret him.
Q 08Who plays receptionist Dawn Tinsley?
Lucy Davis
Dawn's fiancé Lee is played by Joel Beckett; her US counterpart is Pam Beesly.
Q 09Where does Dawn's fiancé Lee work?
The warehouse
His idea of a proposal was a four-word newspaper notice: "Lee love Dawn. Marriage?"
Q 10Gareth constantly boasts about his time in which organisation?
The Territorial Army
He claims to know how to kill a man with a single blow, which Tim and Dawn mine for endless double entendres.
Q 11What is the show's theme song?
Handbags and Gladrags
Big George performed it, based on the Rod Stewart arrangement; Brent himself sings a version over the credits of one episode.
Q 12Which former Manfred Mann singer originally wrote the theme song in the 1960s?
Mike d'Abo
Farlowe and Stewart both recorded it; Paul Jones was the Manfred Mann singer d'Abo replaced.
Q 13Which song does Brent perform on guitar during the training day in series one?
Free Love Freeway
Noel Gallagher later recorded a full-band version with Gervais, hidden on the Christmas specials DVD.
Q 21What did Tim famously encase Gareth's stapler in?
Jelly
The prank was reprised in the American remake and several other international versions.
Q 22When Brent pretends to phone Chris Finch to sack him, who has he actually dialled?
The speaking clock
Jennifer presses the speakerphone button and exposes him in front of the camera.
Q 23How is the disputed pub-quiz tie-break finally settled?
A shoe-throwing contest
Finch wins it smugly, having got the Shakespeare question wrong in the first place.
Q 14What was the name of David Brent's old rock band?
Foregone Conclusion
They reunite, for a fee, in the 2016 film Life on the Road; Juxtaposition Records is Brent's label.
Q 15What was the 1998 short film by Gervais and Merchant that became The Office?
Seedy Boss
The 20-minute film was part of Merchant's BBC producer training; Ash Atalla showed it to BBC Two head Jane Root.
Q 16Where was the series filmed?
Teddington Studios
It used a single-camera setup and no laugh track, unusual for a British sitcom at the time.
Q 17Gervais and Merchant met when Merchant was hired as Gervais's assistant at which radio station?
Xfm
Brent was based on a character Gervais performed to amuse the station's staff.
Q 18How many episodes of The Office were made in total, including the Christmas specials?
14
Two series of six plus the two-part special; Gervais and Merchant refused to write a third series.
Q 19In 2004 the series won Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy at which awards?
The Golden Globes
It was the first British comedy in 25 years even to be nominated, and the first ever to win; Gervais won Best Actor too.
Q 20What is the title of the first episode?
Downsize
Brent recklessly promises that nobody will lose their job as the company plans to shrink a branch.
Q 24Despite redundancies, why does Brent hire Karen as a second secretary in "New Girl"?
He fancies her
His attempts to "pull" her at the nightclub outing fall completely flat.
Q 25Why does Gareth turn down a woman who invites him home from the nightclub?
She is married
In the same episode Donna announces she spent the night with Ricky, to Finch's annoyance.
Q 26Why did Brent really lose the head-office promotion he accepted at the end of series one?
He failed a medical
He tells the staff he threw the exam deliberately to save the branch, which nobody quite believes.
Q 27Brent's suave rival Neil is manager of which branch before the merger?
Swindon
His staff transfer to Slough in the series two opener and immediately prefer him to Brent.
Q 28Who becomes Brent's immediate superior in series two after Jennifer is made a partner?
Neil Godwin
Everything Brent is not, Neil bonds with the staff, dances better and eventually makes Brent redundant.
Q 29In which series two episode do Neil and Jennifer tell Brent he is being made redundant?
Charity
It comes right after Brent dares Neil to run the office without him, convinced the staff would revolt.
Q 30Which consultancy firm hires Brent as a motivational speaker in series two?
Cooper & Webb
He is deflated to learn they asked Neil too, and they drop him during his magazine interview in the finale.