Popular British comedy, The Office has been exported to France and translated for the first time. Filming of the adaptation, based on original scripts by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and titled Le Bureau, has just finished and the show is set to be broadcast on Canal+ in May.

Slough based Wernham-Hogg has become the paper merchant Cogirep, based in Villepinte in northern Paris, one of France's biggest industrial estates. The lead role as fanatical boss Gilles Triquet is played by actor François Berléand.

Although 80 countries have bought the rights to dubbed versions of The Office, the most popular BBC comedy export, it has only been remade once before for the US market, where it has become such a success, entertaining on average 10 million viewers and winning a Golden Globe Award, that Ricky Gervais is currently writing the script for its' third series.

A dubbed version of the show was televised in France two years ago and did not conquer French viewers. We shall wait and see if the remake manages to win them over.