Governors heap praise on sitcom

BBC governors have singled out The Office as the single defining programme of BBC2.

Ricky Gervais's award-winning comedy was singled out for special praise in the corporation's annual report, published today.

The governors said: "If one programme defined the channel in the past year it was surely the innovative workplace comedy series The Office, starring Ricky Gervais, which won a total of seven major awards, including two BAFTAs and was voted best new comedy of 2001 at the British Comedy Awards last December."

The report also praised the Steve Coogan comedy Dr Terrible's House Of Horrible and Johnny Vaughan's 'Orrible - both of which were critical and ratings disasters.

The report said that "while attracting disappointing audiences, [these shows] demonstrated the BBC's support for innovation".

Orrible's audience figures languished around the 1.5million mark, while Dr Terrible was seen by around 1.2million a week when it was screened in November - fewer than Watercolour Challenge.

Published: 17 Jul 2002