Amazon’s Prime Video takes The Office down under with its first female lead

Amazon’s Prime Video is adapting BBC Studios comedy format The Office in Australia with a woman playing the lead role in a first for the franchise.

Felicity Ward

Eight-part Amazon Original The Office Australia will launch in 2024 on Prime Video globally, excluding the US.

The show, originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant for the BBC, will be coproduced by BBC Studios ANZ and local outfit Bunya Entertainment.

Australian comedian and actor Felicity Ward (Wakefield, The Inbetweeners 2) will play Hannah Howard, the managing director of packaging company Flinley Craddick. It will be the 13th adaptation of the series and the first time the boss has been played by a female.

Filming will start in Sydney in June and the show is the first scripted project to be developed and produced by BBC Studios ANZ, which was set up in Australia five years ago.

Kylie Washington, BBC Studios ANZ’s general manager and creative director, production, said the world was ready for a “lovable, flawed lady boss ruling over her packaging empire.”

“The Office has connected with audiences around the world because everyone recognises their own David Brent, and now it’s Australia’s turn. This is the first scripted project from BBC Studios ANZ and I’m excited to partner with Bunya Entertainment and Prime Video to reimagine such an iconic show with some very Aussie characters,” she said.

Sarah Christie, senior development executive at Prime Video Australia, added: “It is an honour to continue the international comedy legacy of The Office locally while introducing new, quintessentially Australian characters. We can’t wait for audiences to meet Hannah Howard, the first female boss The Office format has explored.”