The Office UK Vs US: Which Characters Are Best?

David and Michael both have direct supervisors who put up with a remarkable amount of nonsense from their regional managers. Jennifer Taylor-Clarke is the more realistic depiction, a no nonsense boss who puts her foot down and eventually dismisses Brent, but the wild ride of Jan Levinson makes her the more enjoyable character.

She starts off as a straightforward copy, a stuffed shirt who butts heads with Michael’s freewheeling ways, but after embarking on an ill advised relationship with her underling, her life, professionally and personally, quickly goes off the rails in a big way.

This relationship arc leads to some of the most uncomfortable, and often funniest, material in the show’s run. It culminates with season four’s “Dinner Party”, perhaps the most purely cringe inducing episode in the history of either iteration.

The writers were smart enough not to overuse Jan, who was on the verge of becoming too bonkers a character, but the unexpected path they took her down yielded some incredible moments.