Martin Freeman breaks silence on The Office improvisation dispute
Martin Freeman, 54, best known for playing Tim Canterbury in the iconic mockumentary The Office, has admitted he was ‘annoyed’ at co-creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant over their persistent claims that the show was not improvised. The actor made the confession during a reunion special with co-star Mackenzie Crook, marking 25 years since the landmark comedy series first aired.
Freeman calls out inaccurate script publications
In the retrospective special, Freeman shared a specific grievance: when the scripts were published, they were actually transcriptions of the final televised episodes, not the original scripts. ‘What slightly annoyed me at the time is when the scripts were published, they weren’t the scripts. They were the transcriptions of what had been on television,’ he said. ‘So that annoyed me a little bit because, well, anyone who knows any of us knows that that line came from you in that moment, that line came from me.’
Actor acknowledges brilliant writing but defends actors' contributions
Freeman acknowledged that the writing by Gervais and Merchant was ‘brilliant’ and ‘nicely loose,’ providing a playground for the cast. However, he pushed back against the notion that no improvisation occurred. ‘It was all there on the page. However, my true feeling about it is that when it became the monster that it did and people would say it sounded improvised, then understandably, Ricky and Stephen went: “No, none of it’s improvised.” Which is not true,’ he explained.
‘I can understand why there was a little bit of protection about that, because otherwise people would’ve gone: “Hey, you just rock up and you just make it all up,” which clearly was not the case. The writing on it that they did was brilliant. But you only need to know us a little bit or know the process of it. We’re also in there, you know? It doesn’t mean it’s a co-credit. Doesn’t mean it’s improvised, but it’s nicely loose.’
Gervais's past comments on improvisation
In 2005, Gervais told NPR: ‘People think The Office was improvised, but it’s all on the page. We do that because what we found is that in the early days of The Office, we went in with it sort of 80 percent scripted and we did some things and then we improv’d and we did–you know, and it gets a laugh on the floor because it’s the first time they’ve heard it. But when you get back into the editing suite in the cold light of day, the written stuff is better.’
Reunion special and absent creators
The reunion special, titled Mackenzie Crook and Martin Freeman Remember… The Office, airs tonight at 10pm on BBC Two and will be available on BBC iPlayer. It marks the first time the two actors have met in over 15 years. According to the synopsis, they will share memories of working alongside Gervais, Merchant, and Lucy Davis, who played Tim’s love interest Dawn.
Notably, Gervais, 65, and Merchant opted not to participate in the special. A source described their absence as a ‘huge blow’ for the broadcaster, though Gervais’s representatives insisted there was no rift with the BBC. Gervais will instead mark the anniversary with his own YouTube video special, also promoting his new Netflix show Alley Cats and his stand-up tour Legend.
Metro has reached out to representatives for Gervais and Merchant for comment.
