Tim Canterbury

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Tim Canterbury
First appearance	'Downsize' (2001)
Last appearance	'Christmas Special' (2003)
Created by	Ricky Gervais Stephen Merchant
Portrayed by	Martin Freeman
In-universe information
Occupation	Sales representative
Significant other	Dawn Tinsley
Nationality	British

Tim Canterbury is a fictional character in the BBC sitcom The Office, portrayed by Martin Freeman. He is a sales representative at the Slough branch of Wernham Hogg Paper Merchants. He has a self-deprecating and ironic sense of humour.^[1]

Tim flirts with, and feels great attraction to, the receptionist Dawn Tinsley.^[2] His office nemesis is Gareth Keenan, with whom he regularly exchanges insults and on whom he frequently plays practical jokes. His relationship with his boss David Brent is mixed; at times Tim seems to get along well with David, and often patiently humours Brent's attempts at comedy and social interaction. However, like the other employees, he is often exasperated by Brent's more extreme personality flaws.

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 The Office is Jim Halpert. His French equivalents are Paul Delorme (played by Jeremie Elkaim) and Louis Tremblay.