Second series 'could be the last'

The second series of The Office could well be the last, star Mackenzie Crook has revealed.

He says the series would lose its authenticity if it ran for too long - but he says he would be happy to return of toady Gareth if asked.

"I can't see a third series," he told a live chat on the BBCi website. "It's not the sort of thing that could run and run like Only Fools and Horses, because then it would become unbelievable"

He also revealed that one scene in the recently filmed second series took 75 takes to get right because stars Ricky Gervais and Martin Freeman couldn't keep straight faces.

"I wasn't involved," said Crook. "I just stood by and shook my head disapprovingly.

"I can usually keep a straight face while everybody around me cracks up. It makes me feel quite humourless."

The comic - whose changed his real name of Paul because it clashed with another actor - also disclosed that his next project is a sitcom based around his character Mr Bagshaw, a hapless teacher.

He's an amalgam of about seven bastards who made my life hell," he said. "I had a teacher called Mr Bagshaw, but it isn't based on him. He's actually a really nice man, and I feel bad about that."

He also claimed to be working on another sitcom with his pal Iain Lee, of 11 O'Clock Show fame. "It's about a couple of gay footballers who get transferred to Nottingham Forest," he said. "It's called Fruits of the Forest."

The Office will return to BBC2 in the autumn.

Published: 9 Jul 2002