Stephen Merchant

Someone in The Office (2001) looks towards the camera while David Brent carries on talking. That small movement explains much of what Stephen Merchant does well as a director. Working with co-writer and co-director Ricky Gervais, he lets the person listening become as important as the person speaking. The look has to be brief enough to seem unplanned, and their direction generally allows it to pass without underlining the joke.

We laughed at Brent and then felt unkind, because his colleagues’ glances put us among the people watching him fail. The documentary pretence gives the cast room to look caught off guard, rather than ready to perform. It also leaves the people looking at the camera open to judgement themselves. Merchant’s restraint matters here: a more emphatic reaction would turn an embarrassed colleague into someone visibly setting up a joke.

Restraint is also what the partnership sometimes lacks. Brent’s need for attention becomes wearing when an awkward exchange continues after we have understood it. Merchant shares responsibility for those stretches as writer and director; prolonging embarrassment does not keep producing fresh jokes. We would rather hear from the quieter characters by then, whose relationships give the programme much of its warmth.

The partnership continued with the showbusiness satire Extras (2005) and the feature Cemetery Junction (2010), set in working-class Britain in the 1970s. As writer-director of Fighting with My Family (2019), Merchant takes on a true-life underdog sports story, with room for encouragement and family affection. He also co-created, co-wrote and co-directed The Outlaws (2021), bringing crime into his television comedy-drama. These are welcome directions for someone whose skill at making social encounters painful could easily become a habit. Start with The Office, but allow a little recovery time between episodes.