The Office Remake in Poland

BBC Studios and Canal+ Poland have signed a scripted-format agreement to remake the comedy series The Office for the Polish audience.

The Office first aired in the U.K. 20 years ago this month. The agreement with Canal+ Poland marks the 11th international sale of the format, alongside the U.S., Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Sweden, Finland and India.

In the Polish adaptation, The Office is in a bottled water company, Kropliczanka, based in Siedlce, a town near Warsaw. David Brent becomes Michał, played by Piotr Polak, a self-absorbed man who craves attention and flattery. When the company is acquired by a new owner and employees start to worry about their jobs, Michał is the only optimistic one.

The local series will also see the inclusion of a new leading female character, Patrycja, played by Vanessa Aleksander. Patrycja wants to bring change and newness to Kropliczanka and becomes a formidable opponent to Michał.

The 12-part series is set to air on Canal+ and online at canalplus.com in Poland this fall. The series will be directed by Maciej Bochniak and produced by Dorota Kośmicka Gacke and Jan Kępiński.

André Renaud, senior VP of format sales for BBC Studios, said: “It will be 20 years this month since Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s The Office launched on the BBC in the U.K. and it’s incredible that Poland will join countries like the U.S., to Finland and Chile, and most recently in India, to bring the stories of this great group of colleagues and their charmingly hapless boss to life in this milestone 11th version. I’m looking forward to seeing how the team will reimagine office life for the 21st-century Polish viewer. After the past year, I’m sure we are all craving a bit of office life and I’m hopeful that there will be more local ‘offices’ opening up in the near future.”

Małgorzata Seck, VP of programming for Canal+ Poland, said: “At Canal+ Poland, we are all The Office fans! We decided to pursue the local version because we aim for innovative, surprising and bold content, also in the comedy genre. The original had it all: universal topics that translate well to any setting worldwide; and in pandemic times, we miss the mundane, office life and look at its quirks with a certain nostalgia.”