Tim Canterbury
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Tim Canterbury | |
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Dawn Tinsley | |
Nationality | British |
Tim Canterbury is a fictional character in the
Tim flirts with, and feels great attraction to, the receptionist
In many ways, he is Brent's complete opposite. While Brent tends to alienate people with his constant displays of arrogance and insecurities, Tim is liked by almost everyone due largely to his kindness, his cheeky-chappy sense of humour and his caring nature. However, he lives an unsatisfying life – at thirty, he still lives with his parents and works in a job for which he has no passion or interest. Having dropped out of university after a year, he hopes to return and earn a Psychology degree, but his hidden insecurity prevents him from doing so. His regular pranks on Gareth are one of his ways of maintaining his sanity.
At the end of the first season, Tim abandons his plan to quit his office job and return to university to earn a degree in Psychology. He reveals to Dawn that David Brent has "promoted" him to Senior Sales Clerk, which includes a raise of £500. As Tim relays this information, he begins speaking in a distinctly Brent-esque style, using vague syllogisms and empty phrases with no clear meaning behind them. He also backpedals on a lot of the career advice he previously gave to Dawn and suggests that his new title has set him upon a more desirable path.
In the second series, although Tim retains much of his former ironic humour, much of his self-deprecation is absent. Despite his promotion being little more than tokenistic, he takes his job much more seriously, and insists that others do the same. This suggests a potential parallel between Tim and David Brent in terms of their career trajectory: the casual and flippant attitude being discarded upon receiving a taste of authority, however insignificant, and buying into the corporate, pencil-pushing mentality.
Tim's equivalent in the American version of
Relationship with Dawn Tinsley
Apart from being her colleague and close friend, Tim harbours strong feelings for Dawn. Their relationship is very flirtatious at times. However, Dawn's engagement to Lee prevents them from becoming more than friends for quite some time. Their friendship seems to suffer after the episode Training Day, in which Dawn and Lee are having problems.[3] Tim consoles her throughout the episode, but mistakenly comes to the conclusion that Lee and Dawn have split. He then asks Dawn out on a date in front of everyone, where she tells him that she and Lee are still together. Humiliated, Tim insists he was just asking her out as a friend.
During the second series, Dawn and Tim remain friends, but do not seem to be as close anymore. Tim starts to take his job more seriously after being promoted and becomes somewhat distant toward Dawn at first. Tim also begins to date Rachel, one of the former Swindon employees, and Dawn grows jealous (along with Gareth, who claims he had feelings for Rachel before Tim and doesn't understand why she wants to go out with someone who looks like a
Three years pass, with Tim remaining complacent in his job at Wernham Hogg and Dawn living unhappily with Lee in Florida. Dawn and Lee are flown back for the reunion, and she resumes her friendship with Tim briefly. When Dawn receives a Christmas present from Tim encouraging her to hold on to her dream of becoming an illustrator, she returns to the Christmas party without Lee, where she and Tim kiss and finally become a couple.[4]
See also
References
- ^ "The Office > Characters > Tim Canterbury". BBC. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
- ^ "The Office > Characters > Dawn Tinsley". BBC. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
- ^ "Ricky Gervais...Obviously > Episode Guide > Episode 4". RickyGervais.com. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
- ^ a b "Ricky Gervais...Obviously > Episode Guide > Episode 14". RickyGervais.com. Retrieved 21 April 2014.