{From an article by Jennifer M. Wood, a senior editor at Mental Floss online}

If your only experience with The Office is via NBC’s long-running American adaptation of the BBC series, you’re missing out. While the original series, which was created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, falls firmly into the comedy  genre, it’s that very specific ”and unnerving ”brand of cringe comedy that separates the series from its straight-up comedy competitors (think: The Larry Sanders Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, or The Comeback).

More than 15 years after the Golden Globe-winning series made its debut, fans still can’t get enough of the British show, David Brent (Gervais) and his team of office drones at Wernham Hogg. Here are 6 things you might not have known about The Office across the pond.

1. SOME OF THE STORYLINES CAME FROM RICKY GERVAIS’S PAST LIFE IN MIDDLE MANAGEMENT.

In an interview with NPR, Gervais explained that the environment at Wernham Hogg was one that was very familiar to him. I worked in an office for eight years,  Gervais said. That’s where I got it all from. I was a middle manager. I went to management training seminars where the speakers talked rubbish for two days ¦ Episode four in series one, where we had the guy come in to train people, I remember the first training session I went to, and I remember they did role-playing. And I remember at the time thinking, ‘This is ridiculous.’ 

2. DAVID BRENT IS THE MOST FUN CHARACTER GERVAIS HAS EVER PLAYED.

When asked about the experience of playing David Brent, Gervais admitted to the Sun that, None of my characters have been as much fun to play as David Brent. People say he was ¦ the ˜boss from hell,’ but he wasn’t. He was just a twit. He was a man whose biggest mistake was confusing popularity with respect. 

3. THERE WASN’T A LOT OF IMPROVISATION.

Though the show has a very naturalistic style, similar to Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm (which is mostly improvised), Gervais and Merchant said The Office was 95 percent scripted, with some improvisation here and there. 

4. MERCHANT DOESN’T THINK THE SHOW COULD’VE BEEN MADE TODAY.

In a 2015 interview, Merchant admitted that he doesn’t know that the series would have been made had they pitched it today. I feel like we’re living in an age now where everyone is constantly apologizing for everything they say,  Merchant told The Telegraph. This idea that we have to police ourselves, that we might say the wrong thing and upset someone or something. It’s not fun. It’s just not fun. I don’t think The Office would have got off the ground if we’d made it now. I think it would have been shut down. I think the BBC would have been too jumpy. 

5. IT WAS THE FIRST BRITISH SITCOM TO WIN A GOLDEN GLOBE.

In 2004, The Office became the first British sitcom in more than 25 years to be nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Television Series – Comedy or Musical. When it won the award, it became the first British series to ever do so. (Ricky Gervais also took home a statue for Best Actor.)

6. SHOOTING TIM’S APPRAISAL REQUIRED 74 TAKES.

When asked about any memorably difficult scenes to shoot, Gervais and Merchant told the BBC that it was the scene in which Brent gives Tim an appraisal ”which required 74 takes. We kept laughing and couldn’t get through the dialogue,  Gervais said.