[Insert Michael Scott grimacing gif here]

That could have been the reaction to the new South African version of The Office (known as Die Kantoor), and probably that is the internal response of many before sitting down to watch the Showmax Original now on the streaming service, and DStv’s kykNET channel. The good news is that in adapting the beloved mockumentary sitcom for local audiences, its makers have, facing a sink-or-swim situation like many new employees, excelled and are currently confidently doing laps in the entertainment pool.

To be fair, Die Kantoor is not without “mentorship.” Announced back in August 2024, the comedy is actually the fourteenth regional localisation – following the likes of Australia, France, Canada, Chile, Israel, India, the Middle East, Poland, and of course, the United States – of the original British The Office, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Licensed from BBC Studios, Showmax and Kyknet’s Die Kantoor is produced by Rapid Blue, who are part of BBC Studios’ international family of production companies, while Bennie Fourie, co-creator of award-winning TV comedy Hotel, directs and is head writer of the show.

Giving the South African edition of The Office local flavour by default, Die Kantoor is primarily set in the administrative department of Deluxe Processed Meats, a polony manufacturer in Klerksdorp. It’s a highly relatable Rainbow Nation office environment, with staff from a diverse set of racial groups and backgrounds.

These include macho ladies’ man Tjaart Ferreira (Schalk Bezuidenhout); straight talker Joanne Davids (Ilse Oppelt); amiable family man and third generation Klerksdorper Gavin Naicker (Mehboob Bawa); geriatric receptionist Tannie Miems (Lida Botha), whose favourite colours are orange, white and blue (for reasons!); Nqobani Mhkize (Sipumziwe Lucwaba), a young man smart enough to keep his head down; and try-hard Kayle Smith (Carl Beukes), whose biggest bragging point is that he has an Italian coffee machine bought in Joburg.

DPM is the type of workplace to host Friday afternoon braais in the parking lot, and gather all the men for a shirtless lunchtime game of touch rugby. And driving it all is middle-aged manager Flip Bosman (Albert Pretorius), a self-dubbed “Rassie of Polony” whose ineptitude is only matched in scale by his drive to inspire, and do right by his staff. On that note, while Die Kantoor is an ensemble, Pretorius’s 100-percent commitment to the sad sack but well-meaning role, really holds it all together.  

You’d never say that Die Kantoor is wholly realistic, but its satire of South African work life and the mundane everyday is sharpened, and made more immersive, by the documentary approach inherited from its source material. For those unfamiliar with The Office’s approach to TV comedy (which also applies to its genre cousin Parks and Recreation), viewers assume the point of view of a documentary crew entrenched at the company. Camerawork is deliberately shaky and handheld, often with covert positioning or awkward zooms to capture an intimate moment, and every episode is peppered with mini interview segments, where characters sit down and address the camera. There’s no laugh track, nor any musical score to guide emotional response to the second-hand embarrassment, and surprising amount of heart onscreen.

For the record, you can recognise the parallels with overseas versions of The Office – especially the American version – in relation to certain situations and characters. On the latter front, Joubert Cronje (played by Gert du Plessis) and Emma Engelbrecht (Daniah De Villiers) are the show’s Jim and Pam equivalents, with Du Plessis even looking a lot like a young John Krasinski. As a new generation of South African, like Nqobani, Joubert and Emma are Die Kantoor’s likeable straight men, and their will-they-won’t-they romance provides the sitcom’s strongest dramatic hook.

Overall, while the earlier episodes feel more copy-paste from the UK and US series, as the season advances, Die Kantoor starts asserting its own identity, breaking away from remake territory. As a sidenote, it’s hard not to feel a hyper-local jolt of nostalgia when a classic Verimark product makes an appearance in the pilot.

Perhaps most surprising of all, though, is that not once does Die Kantoor pull its punches. It refuses to play safe, letting its character stereotypes vocalise what traditionally would have gone unsaid. However, it’s done in such a way that it reflects back on the outdated beliefs of the figures voicing them rather than setting out to offend or shock. Suicide, BEE appointments and all manner of slurs (ethnic, gender and sexual orientation) feature as part of the humour mix here, as they would in a workplace where colleagues have bonded as a dysfunctional pseudo-family – without HR around to have a heart attack.

The result is a homegrown comedy that is the full package: sophisticated on every level, bold, emotionally involving and highly entertaining.

You can watch the 13-episode Season 1 of Die Kantoor on kykNET (DStv Channel 144) with new episodes every Sunday evening, as of 18 January. You can also stream the series on Showmax, with fresh episodes dropping every Tuesday.

Die Kantoor is primarily in Afrikaans, with plenty of English – and English subtitles throughout.

This review was based on access to the first five episodes of Die Kantoor.