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Ash Atalla is the original producer of the hit TV show, The Office, and the recipient of multiple Golden Globes, BAFTAs and British Comedy Awards. When he and his parents moved from Cairo, Egypt to the UK Ash excelled at his studies before getting himself a junior TV role at the Â鶹Éç. It was there, as a researcher in the comedy department, that Ash was introduced to two men who would change his life - a young Â鶹Éç trainee called Stephen Merchant and his friend, Ricky Gervais. Ash took the idea of a sitcom set in a paper company with a toe-curlingly awkward boss to the TV commissioners who, despite there being no well-known actors attached, saw the potential and commissioned a series. The Office debuted in 2021. There are now countless international versions with millions of viewers worldwide. Ash spoke to Mobeen Azhar in 2025, reflecting on fame, accolades and offering some creative advice.

When an advertising firm in Chennai adopted a stray dog who they found sitting in front of a tea shop – he not only became the beloved office dog but also an official team member. Our reporter Geeta Pandey dropped in to meet top dog Goofy and one of his doting colleagues, Bala Manian, back in 2016.

Brendan Quigley and Derrik Albertelli are two members of the Boston Typewriter Orchestra. They shun sheet music and conventional instruments in favour of expertly manipulating the musical scrapes, taps and pings of old typewriters to create their songs. The collective have made it their mission to breathe new life into this otherwise mostly redundant piece of office equipment, and in 2017 Brendan and Quigley spoke to Outlook about what drew them to typewriters in the first place….and how to get a good bass sound from the shift key!

Hiroki Terai believes that Japanese people aren't very good at expressing their emotions. So he decided to set up a business that allows people to hire a handsome man to play them sad video clips and wipe away their tears. The service was especially tailored to corporate businesses – who would partake in watching the sad videos together, as a quasi team-building exercise and be encouraged to cry. Hiroki hoped that normalising the expression of such emotions would create a healthier workplace for everyone. The Â鶹Éç's Emily Webb went to Tokyo in 2016 to find out more.

Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 has long been an anthem for working women around the world. She wrote it on the set of a movie - the hit 80s comedy 9 to 5 starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and of course Dolly Parton. It's a film about three secretaries who decide to take revenge on their misogynistic boss. The film was inspired by the stories of real secretaries who became so exasperated with how they were being treated by their managers that they decided to fight back. They formed an organisation called 9 to 5 and Karen Nussbaum was one of its founders. She spoke to Saskia Collette in 2020.

Presenter: Asya Fouks
Producer: Hannah Dean

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707

(Photo: A transparent 60-minute cassette tape on a white background with a white label with the words:The Outlook Mixtape. Credit: Getty Images)