Television workplaces were once an escape. If they weren’t full of crazy co-workers constantly bouncing jokes off each other, they were hotbeds of drama where teamwork was the name of the game. Idealised maybe; they were definitely the kinds of places you’d want to spend eight hours in – or just half an hour watching.
Now one of the most talked-about series on television is Severance (now available on Apple TV+) a drama based on the idea that going to work is so awful people will agree to actual brain surgery to ensure they remember nothing about it. The TV workplace is still an escape, only now it’s the characters on-screen who want to leave their lives behind and it’s turned their office into a nightmare.
