Want to feel old? Of course the answer to that is always “no”, but humour us for a moment. It’s more than 20 years since the original version of The Office ended. Want to feel even older? It’s more than 10 years since the AMERICAN version of The Office ended. As well as making us all shudder dramatically at the passing of time, that means one thing. Yep: the time is right for a new version of The Office!

And that’s what we’ve got, with a new adaptation of the classic mockumentary coming to Prime Video (Apps > Prime Video) on Friday 18 October. The twist? It’s Australian, set at a Sydney packaging firm called Flinley Craddick. The other twist? The inept manager at the heart of the show is a woman – a first in any version of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s creation (there have been 13, from Canada and Chile to Finland, India and Saudi Arabia).

Hannah Howard is played by Felicity Ward, who’s had success as a stand-up comic in Australia and the UK (she was nominated for an Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2018) and has appeared in British TV shows such as Josh, Gameface and Richard Osman’s House Of Games, as well as the film The Inbetweeners 2. Hannah is just as well-meaning yet oblivious to her own flaws as David Brent or Michael Scott, as the trailer shows…

Many of the recognisable features are in place – the overeager deputy, the bored salesman, the pranks – but with entirely original scripts, the series has an essential Aussie-ness to it. Like its UK and US counterparts it takes place in an uninspiring office block, but with the sun shining from blue Sydney skies it certainly doesn’t have the bleakness of Slough. It could be the best of both worlds: the Flinley Craddick crew seem as likely to have a revelatory team-bonding session at the beach as to get into an argument about who could throw a kettle over a pub.

Fans of top-notch Australian comedies such as Colin From Accounts, Fisk and Bump will know the quality of the country’s current comic output. And with the talent behind the camera – including Jackie van Beek, director of the tremendous comedy The Breaker Upperers and a veteran of What We Do In The Shadows, Wellington Paranormal and more – as well as Ward’s comedy chops in the central role, we think it’s pretty much nailed on to be as hilarious as its predecessors.

While not every character has a direct equivalent in the UK or US version, this Office is – like all the others, as far as we can figure out with a bit of help from Google Translate – focused on the main four characters of the hapless boss, their oddball assistant and the flirtation will-they-won’t-they couple. Read on to meet the main Australian cast and figure out who’s who.

The well-meaning but hopeless manager

Friend first, boss second… probably an entertainer third. This summary from Ricky Gervais’s majestically self-deluding David Brent set the template for all those who followed. Steve Carell’s Michael Scott, while no more self-aware, proved more sympathetic over the course of seven seasons, as we gradually saw the deep-seated reasons behind his desperate need to be liked. (No guitar, either.)

Ward has described Hannah Howard as “useless”, “a compulsive liar” and “an optimist incompetent trapped in her own delulu”. We’re getting the sense of someone who will loudly proclaim loyalty to their “work family” at every opportunity while secretly trying to save their own skin. Which sounds absolutely perfect.

The oddball assistant

Assistant to the regional manager, of course. As played by Mackenzie Crook, Gareth Keenan was a suck-up, obsessed with being “hard” and completely unable to take a joke. In the US, Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) had similar elements, such as his martial arts training and time as a volunteer sheriff. He was also, lest we forget, a top salesman with consistently excellent numbers. And then there were the beets.

At Flinley Craddock, there’s no doubt who the office eccentric is: Lizze Moyle, the receptionist – sorry, “front-desk executive” – who is excessively enthusiastic when Hannah gives her the meaningless title of “productivity manager” and says she knows her way around the dark web. She’s played by Edith Poor, who appeared in the Oscar-winning film The Power Of The Dog and was The Nomad in The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power.

The loveable salesman

We’ve all done jobs where the work didn’t interest us and we were counting down the hours till home time – and that’s what made both Tim Canterbury (Martin Freeman) and Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) relatable. Both felt trapped in their roles, although the main obstacle to moving on was their own lack of drive, and were sustained only by playing pranks on Gareth/Dwight and their much-denied crush on Dawn/Pam.

The Australian version is Nick Fletcher, played by Steen Raskopoulos, who like his British and American equivalents has a nice line in amused looks to camera. Raskopoulos, like Ward, is an Aussie comedian who has worked in Britain a fair amount (he’s married to comic and writer Sara Pascoe, fact fans) and will be familiar to UK viewers from The Duchess, Feel Good and The Stand Up Sketch Show.

The sweet-natured receptionist

Like Tim and Jim, both Dawn Tinsley (Lucy Davis) and Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) both started out feeling trapped, not just behind the reception desk but also in an aimless, dull relationship with Lee/Roy that they could never quite convince themselves to leave. Both had to find their own way out, with some help from a smitten salesman. We only saw a glimmer of that happiness for Dawn, but we like to imagine that her story played out like Pam’s in the end.

In the new version, the receptionist isn’t actually a receptionist but a sales representative. Putting Greta King (Shari Sebbens, The Sapphires) on an equal professional footing with her “best friend” Nick could alter that dynamic. One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is that she’s still stuck with a useless boyfriend, Mason (King Of The Cross’s Claude Jabbour).

When is the Australian version of The Office on TV?

You can watch all eight episodes of the new Australian version of The Office from Friday 18 October on Prime Video (Apps > Prime Video).

If you want to watch (let’s be honest, rewatch) the UK original, that’s in Apps > BBC iPlayer or in On Demand > GOLD, while the complete series of the US version is in Apps > Netflix and seasons 1, 2 and 9 are in On Demand > Sky Comedy.