Office to bow out with festive special

Ricky Gervais has confirmed that he is working on a one-off edition of The Office to be screened this Christmas.

The special, which could be extended to a feature-length show, will bring the multiple award-winning comedy to an end.

At last night's Royal Television Society awards, Gervais said: "The Office is a finite piece of work, so the end will be a summing up in a special episode to tie up all the Loose Ends with David Brent."

He told London's Evening Standard: "We have been writing it for the last few weeks. We don't yet know if it will be a one-hour episode or two half-hour episodes or even an hour-and-a-half.

"But it will definitely be set over the Christmas period in the office - it will be right up to date - and I want it to go out this Christmas.

"We will hand in the finished product to the BBC and if they don't like it they can't have it. But we are sticking with them because they have been good to us."

Published: 19 Mar 2003