The two-part conclusion to The Office bids farewell to David Brent and his long-suffering co-workers in a surprisingly poignant not to say dignified manner. Supposedly accompanied by the fly-on-the-wall documentary crew three years after his highly undignified exit from Slough-based paper merchants Wernham Hogg, the first part reveals Brent as a travelling salesman by day and D-list "celebrity" by night, enduring humiliating club appearances organised by his clueless manager. But Brent can't keep away from his old stamping-ground in Slough, especially with the imminent prospect of the annual Christmas party. As much to spite suave rival Neil as anything else, Brent is on an agonisingly painful hunt for a date to bring along.

Back at Wernham Hogg, lovelorn Tim has to endure not only the officious behaviour of Gareth, now his manager, but also a cheerless existence bereft of Dawn, who is living in Florida with boorish fianc?? Lee. Matters are brought to a head for all concerned--including Lee and Dawn, flown over specially for the occasion--when they finally gather in the office for the party.

As ever the script is full of priceless one-liners (witness big Keith's chat-up spiel, as he promises "at least one orgasm" to any woman), and the show is peppered with those direct appeals to camera (Tim's weary "I don't believe he just said that" look, Brent's desperate self-justificatory "Eh?"), as well as achingly effective silences that simultaneously enhance the fly-on-the-wall conceit and heighten the comic effect. Without descending into the sentimental or the trite, somehow The Office closes for business on a genuinely heartwarming note.

On the DVD: This single disc has good, if unexceptional, bonus features. There's a behind-the-scenes documentary in similar format to those on the previous releases, a commentary from Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais on Episode 2, a funny and deservedly self-congratulatory featurette on the Golden Globe Awards ceremony, the full video of David Brent's single "If You Don't Know Me By Now" plus a recording session for "Freelove Freeway" (with Noel Gallagher on backing vocals). --Mark Walker

The tide of public and media opinion may be turning against Ricky Gervais these days (his constant half-joking boasts being the main problem), but there is no denying that with The Office he produced a work of genius that will be remembered for decades to come.

I personally never hated the David Brent character and didn't quite understand 'the boss from hell' tag that he was lumbered with. I saw him as a human being who simply wanted to be loved. By everyone. He just kept making a pig's ear of it.

Anyway, the first two series of The Office were superb, but the Christmas Specials took things up a notch or two.

I'm not going to waffle on anymore (AKA talk crap, yeah?), I'm just going to urge you to buy the complete collection.

However, if you are a fan of 'My Family' or 'Two Pints Of Lager' then I suggest you refrain from buying this as the shock could kill you.

These "Christmas Specials" are two 45 minute episodes which bring the excellent "The Office" series to a fitting and poignant close. Several years after the second series and David Brent is a sales rep of janitorial supplies by day and a very minor entertainer by night doing mostly PA work at local nightclubs. However he still manages to spend much of his time visiting his old colleagues at Wernham Hogg who are in the midst of preparing for their annual Christmas party. Also ,Dawn returns from America especially for the party; will she finally fall into the arms of Tim ? These two episodes are well up to standard and conclude this series perfectly and it is good to see the writers and the TV company end a successful series like "The Office" in this way, resisting the temptation to drag it out for the sake of ratings until all the warmth and humour go out of it and the characters become mere caricatures of themselves.

I presume people buying this will already know the episodes and are merely looking for a nice souvenir edition with some helpful, interesting extras. Well, you will not be disappointed. It's a great value DVD with both the glorious episodes in full (but you can watch them separately or run them together). There's a really funny directors' commentary which you can hear over episode 2 if you choose, and Gervais and Merchant use their best, weirdest blend of self-deprecating and arrogant humour to describe the process of writing and filming the specials. Love it. There's also a great interview with them again, and several of the cast, talking about the experience of making The office - quite sentimental but enormously worth the money if you're a true fan of the show. Particularly fascinating are the snippets of the interview with Mackenzie Crook (Gareth) who is the most different from his character in the show. Really highly recommended for true Office fans.

This was originally a two-part christmas special episode. The premise involves the BBC crew returning to Wernham Hogg a few years after they filmed their documentary to do a "where are they now" special, revolving around the annual company christmas party.

Fans of the show will not be disappointed. As you can expect, it'll make you laugh out loud, cringe, and occasionally leave the room because it's too painful to watch. But it's also very touching. I think they did an absolutely perfect job with the ending. One of the greatest comedies ever.

A perfect end to a great television show. The Office wasn't supposed to be a hit, but because it hit so close to the truth it was compulsive viewing.

The final two episodes show where the lives of the workers are now the documentary has finished. David Brent has a sales job during the day to supplement his burgeoning entertainment career. Gareth Keenan is the discipline obbsessed new boss, and Tim Shakespear is still stuck in a dead end office job.

David on the club circuit is some of the best television in years, as are his encounters with women thrown up by the dating agency. Office life is still painfully dull (in a good way) and could Gareth's replacement annoy Tim any more?

In addition to the episodes, the DVD has some good extras (no pun intended). There is the "Closed For Busines" behind the scenes documentary, which was also screened on the BBC just after the episodes. This is a sentimental journey through not only the Christmas specials, but the series as a whole. There is a short featurette on the cast and crew picking up the Golden Globes, which isn't all that interesting to be honest.
There are two of David Brent's music videos and a commentary on the second episode by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

The commentary is what knocks a star off the review. They are not taking it seriously at all and while their jokes are welcome they are mocking the whole idea of a commentary too much.

All in all this is great for fans of great British comedy.