Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.
AIA

Careers advice from your favourite tv shows

by
24th Sep 2010
Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.

Everyone suffers careers' crises, even your favourite TV characters. Check out the lessons learnt from some of our favourite shows.

US website moneywatch.com recently offered careers tips based on workplace-themed TV shows from across the pond. We’ve come up with some UK alternatives to learn from. Who said watching telly was a waste of time?

The Office
Plot: This award winning sitcom, filmed documentary style, was a comedy first for the BBC and followed the daily lives of office employees at the fictious Wernham Hogg Paper Company. The show propelled Ricky Gervais to international fame as David Brent, the well-meaning ‘boss from hell’, who tries to be everybody’s best friend, but instead ends up offending his entire staff and being sacked.

Business lesson? Leaders should make an effort to connect with their staff on a personal level – but it’s essential to maintain a professional distance.

Memorable lines: “I suppose I’ve created an atmosphere here where I’m a friend first, boss second. Probably an entertainer third” (David Brent).

Cutting It
Plot: This cult BBC drama followed the traumatic life of hairdresser Allie Henshall (played by Sarah Parish), who runs a salon with her husband Gavin. As Allie and Gavin consider taking over a vacant property across the road, they are rocked by the news that a rival hairdresser has bought it. To make matters worse, Allie discovers that the new salon, Blade Runner, is run by her ex husband, Finn, and his wife, Mia Bevan (Amanda Holden).

Business lesson? Don’t waste any time seizing the opportunities that come your way; if you don’t your competitors certainly will!

Memorable lines: "Posh and bloody Becks? How can I compete with that?!" (Allie Henshall)

Ashes to Ashes
Plot: Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) is a tough talking female police officer who is shot in 2008 and inexplicably regains consciousness in 1981. Upon waking the past, she is shocked to meet DCI Gene Hunt (Philiip Glenister), the misogynistic chief whom she read about in her research. The pair solve a series of crimes together, but despite an outward hatred of each other an undercurrent of sizzling sexual tension bubbles between them.

Business lesson? Trust your intuition. WPC Drake is a process-driven person who thrives on research and facts, but through working with DCI Hunt she learns to work more practically, speaking to people and getting a feel for what motivates them.

Memorable lines: “You're nicked... anything you say will be taken down, ripped up and shoved down your scrawny little throat until you choke to death” (Gene Hunt).

Black Books
Plot: Bernard Black (Dylan Moran) owns a small bookshop and hires stressed out accountant Manny (Bill Bailey) to come and work as his assistant. Bernie is entirely uninterested in retail, hates customers and would rather spend his days drinking wine and reading books, making his relationship with the now happy-go-lucky Manny’s strained. Luckily Fran (Tamsin Greig), who works in the shop next door, is there to temper relations between the two.

Business lesson? Recognise your own weaknesses. Bernie is not good at dealing with people, so hires the outgoing Manny to deal with the customers. He frequently ignores Manny’s (usually good) advice, but having him there lightens the load.

Memorable quotes:
Customer: “Look, there's no other way to say this, but I didn't come in here to be insulted”.
Bernard: “Well, I didn't ask for the job of insulting you. In another life, we could have been brothers. Running a small, quirky taveria in Sicily. Maybe we would have married the local twins instead of wasting each other's time here in this dump. But it was not to be. So hop it”.

Blackadder
Plot: Before he became Mr Bean, Rowan Atkinson was most famous for his role as antihero Edmund Blackadder, a conniving and manipulative social climber whose fortunes (or rather misfortunes) we followed in this sitcom which stretched through several important periods in British history, starting with the court of Queen Elizabeth I. His fate is tragically intertwined with that of his faithful but dim-witted servant Baldrick, whom he continually mistreats and berates.

Business lesson? The bad guys don’t always win: Blackadder attempted to use his wit and cunning to climb the career ladder but his cheating ways didn’t win him any friends. Balderick, on the other hand, was honest to a fault. The path to success lies somewhere in between the two: recognising the opportunities whilst always trying to act with integrity.

Memorable quotes: “Mr Blackadder always says, when the going gets tough, the tough hide under the table” (Balderick).  
 

Tags:

Replies (1)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

avatar
By Pitertom
13th Jun 2020 05:37

Mobdro is an application that helps all your devices can watch TV online for free. any sports program, news, music, video games are provided at Mobdro application. To learn more please visit and download the Mobdro app: https://mobdrovip.com/download/

Thanks (0)