"No I don't talk about my love life for a very good reason, and that reason is I don't have one."
- Tim talking about his lack thereof a love lifeUnexpectedly Dawn returns; she has left Lee and tenderly embraces Tim, much to Gareth’s dismay. David and the old office team pose for photographs as he finally triumphs at making them laugh. Tim Canterbury (born 1971) is a character in the BBC sitcom The Office. He is played by Martin Freeman. His counterpart in the American version is Jim Halpert.
Tim is a 30-year old bored sales representative at Wernham-Hogg paper company. He has quite a self-deprecating and ironic sense of humour.
Biography[]
Tim attended university to study for a psychology degree, but dropped out after only a year. Tim's office nemesis is Gareth Keenan, and frequently plays multiple pranks on him. Tim has mixed feelings towards branch manager David Brent; At times, they seem to get along, but Tim feels David can be unsupportive of his ambitions.
In many ways, he is Brent's complete opposite; Unlike Brent, who generally seen as a shameless attention seeker, Tim is well-liked due to his humility, sense of humour, and overall good-natured attitude. Despite this, Tim lives an unsatisfying job - at age 30, he still lives with his parents, and has a job for which he has no passion or interest, and plans to return to university to complete his psychology degree, although his insecurity prevents him from doing so. His frequent pranks on Gareth are one way he maintains his sanity.
Series 1[]
In "The Quiz", Tim celebrates his 30th birthday and is given presents which include a baseball cap with a radio from his mother, and a giant inflatable penis from Dawn and her fiancé Lee. He later attends the annual quiz with temp Ricky, where they win on a tiebreaker. After David's teammate Chris Finch gets angry about losing, he throws Tim's shoe over the roof of the building, and "wins" the quiz.
In "Training", Tim learns Dawn has split from Lee and tries to ask her out at the end of the episode, only to be embarrassed when he discovers that she has got back together with Lee.
Series 2[]
In "Merger", he is promoted to Senior Sales Representative and is more serious about his job, becoming less distant from Dawn. Along with Gareth and Keith, he develops an attractions towards new employee Rachel. Lee later pushes him against a wall after he sees him dancing with Dawn.
In "Appraisals", he asks Rachel out on a date, which doesn't sit well with Dawn.
In "Party" he pranks David by placing a dildo in his office.
In "Motivation", Dawn sees him kissing Rachel, which makes both her and Gareth jealous. When Simon, the IT consultant notices Tim flirting with Rachel, he asks if he's "gone off Dawn".
In "Charity", he hides Gareth's belongings to raise money for Comic Relief. He also gets his first kiss from Dawn, which changes his demeanour and he later has a tense moment with Rachel.
In "Interview", he is offered a promotion by Neil, but he declines, suggesting Gareth should take it. Lee later reveals that Dawn always said the most important quality she looks for in a man is a good sense of humour which leads Tim to decide to break up with Rachel. When he hears that Dawn is leaving and is shocked when she tells him they will be gone for six months, he takes one of his last opportunities to put his heart on the line with Dawn, after turning off his microphone. When he comes back to his desk and turns the mic back on he says, “Err, she said no, by the way.”
Christmas Specials[]
Three years after the documentary crew visited Wernham-Hogg, another one comes to see how the employees are since the documentary aired. Gareth is now regional manager, but Tim still holds little respect for him and locks him inside his office. He is also stuck with an obnoxious pregnant desk mate named Anne, who he seems to despise. When Gareth is planning the office Christmas party, Tim opposes Keith's ideas of inviting prostitutes and holding a wet T-shirt contest, but Gareth tells them they will have a vote.
During Part 2, Tim is reunited with Dawn, who has returned from Florida with Lee. Dawn explains to Tim how her dreams of being an illustrator are over, resulting in a snide comment from Lee. Dawn unexpectedly returns; she has left Lee and tenderly embraces Tim, much to Gareth’s dismay. David and the old office team pose for photographs as he finally triumphs at making them laugh.
Relationship with Dawn Tinsley[]
Tim flirts with, and feels great attraction to receptionist Dawn Tinsley. Their relationship is seen to be 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", in which Dawn and Lee are having problems. 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. Embarrassed, Tim insists he was just asking her out as a friend.
During the second series Dawn and Tim remain friends, but don't 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). In the fifth episode of the second season, Dawn is selling kisses for Red Nose Day. After Tim makes a contribution, they share a kiss. Tim is then driven to choose between Rachel and Dawn, unaware of Dawn and Lee's plans to move to the United States. In the next episode he makes his decision, breaking up with Rachel. Tim soon discovers that Dawn is leaving for Florida with Lee. Initially Tim seems reluctant to say anything, but changes his mind during an interview with the camera crew and runs to tell Dawn how he feels. Their conversation is kept private as Tim takes off his mic, but he emerges unsuccessful and admits Dawn said no. The second series ends with both Dawn and Tim depressed.
Nearly two years pass, with Tim remaining complacent in his job at Wernham-Hogg and Dawn existing 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.