It’s been 25 years since the world was introduced to David Brent and the employees of Wernham Hogg. Created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the mockumentary series followed the fed up staffers in the Slough branch of a fictional paper company, and has gone on to become one the most successful British comedy exports.To mark the show’s anniversary, two of its stars Martin Freeman and Mackenzie Crook came together to reminisce on the BBC special, Remember… The Office, which will air on Wednesday night. Speaking about the show, which launched in 2001 and aired for two seasons, Martin, who played loveable sales rep Tim, and Mackenzie, who played jobsworth Gareth, reflected on their series highlights, how Ricky annoyed them during promo and why they resented the American remake. Martin, 54, began by explaining that he very nearly didn’t get a part in the show at all, because he initially auditioned for the part of Gareth. He recalled: ‘It was the showbiz cliché. I was on the way out and, as I had my hand on the handle of the door – I can’t remember which one of them said it [Ricky or Stephen] they would both wanna credit it to them – one of them said, “Do you think Martin should read for Tim instead?”‘ The Office stars Martin Freeman and Mackenzie Crook spilled the show’s secrets as they reunited for a BBC special celebrating the series’ 25th anniversary Created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the series followed the staff at the Slough branch of paper company Wernham Hogg (L-R Mackenzie, Ricky, Lucy Davis and Martin)Martin continued: ‘I was like, “Yeah, fine. I’ll do it”. I read for that, and I can’t remember whether it was an easier fit or not.’Turning to Mackenzie, Martin continued: ‘I’m very glad because you should be Gareth. ‘I wouldn’t have got it because you would’ve got it. So I was very, very glad that they called me back. That was last second.’A sleeper hit, the BBC show first attracted a viewership of 1.5 million viewers, growing to nine million by the time the two-part Christmas special aired two years later. Discussing the success of the show, Martin exclaimed: ‘We were more popular than The Beatles. It felt like being in a band.’I would come across musicians and people who I thought, “Wow, this person”, and they liked the show as well.’I worked with Richard Curtis and he was one of the people – and Sacha Baron Cohen – who were saying, “You stop at f***ing nine o’clock, you go to see The Office.”‘I remember hearing at the time that [Paul] McCartney used to get it videoed. F***ing hell, man. It was great.’We had a real brief moment, and I’ve always been really grateful that it was a brief moment.’Mackenzie agreed, saying: ‘Yeah, brief and finite, but it opened a whole load of doors, for me at least.’Indeed, Martin went from The Office to starring in hits such as Love Actually, The Hobbit and Black Panther. While Mackenzie scored roles in the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise and Game Of Thrones. A sleeper hit, the BBC show first attracted a viewership of 1.5 million viewers, growing to nine million by the time the two-part Christmas special aired two years laterWhile the pair were grateful to Ricky and Stephen for launching their careers, they admitted that there were times when the co-creators and writers would annoy them.Martin explained that he was still frustrated that the narrative sewn was that every line in the show came solely from Ricky and Stephen’s scripts.He explained: ‘It was all there on the page. However, my true feeling about it is that when it became the monster that it did and people would say it sounded improvised, then understandably, Ricky and Stephen went, “No, none of it’s improvised.” Which is not true. ‘What slightly annoyed me at the time is when the scripts were published, they weren’t the scripts. They were the transcriptions of what had been on television.’So that annoyed me a little bit because, well, anyone who knows any of us knows that that line came from you in that moment, that line came from me. ‘It was loose and that’s to Ricky and Steve’s credit because the scripts were absolutely brilliant. It wasn’t improvised but it was loose.’I can understand why there was a little bit of protection about that, because otherwise people would’ve gone, “Hey, you just rock up and you just make it all up”, which clearly was not the case.’The writing on it that they did was brilliant. But you only need to know us a little bit or know the process of it. We’re also in there, you know?’It doesn’t mean it’s a co-credit. Doesn’t mean it’s improvised, but it’s nicely loose.’Martin and Mackenzie also expressed their annoyance at Hollywood revamping their series.While The Office has been remade in 16 different countries, it’s the American version that has proved to be the most successful. The US reboot, which starred Steve Carell as David Brent’s counterpart, Michael Scott, spawned nine series and picked up several awards, including five Emmys. Yet Martin and Mackenzie confessed that they thought the American remake, in which Ricky and Stephen served as executive producers, was unnecessary. The American reboot of The Office has proved to be the most successful of the 16 international versions (pictured: Steve Carell, John Krasinski and Rainn Wilson) Mackenzie said: ‘I remember hearing about it and thinking, “Why? Why do they need to do that? We’ve done it, haven’t we?”‘I remember thinking or joking at the time that one day somebody would say something about The Office and I’ll say I was in the original, and they’ll say,”‘I didn’t realise there was an original”.Martin mused: ‘There are millions of people who don’t know ours exists!’ as Mackenzie continued: ‘That’s happened countless times. ‘I’ve never seen the American Office. I watched the first episode, which was the same script as our first episode, pretty much. Then I never went back to watching it.’ As Mackenzie insisted ‘not out of any petulance’, Martin interjected ‘It was more hate than petulance!’ Mackenzie Crook and Martin Freeman Remember…The Office airs on Wednesday, 8 July at 10pm on BBC Two and iPlayer.