Neil Godwin

Neil Godwin
Name	Neil Godwin
Job	Co-Managing Director
First Episode	Merger
Last Episode	Christmas Special Part 2
Episode count	8
Portrayed by	Patrick Baladi

Neil Godwin was manager of the Swindon branch of Wernham Hogg. Following the merger of his branch with the Slough branch, Neil is instated as the Co-Managing Director, overseeing Wernham Hogg and thus becoming David Brent's boss. He is a more competent manager than David, has a better relationship with the staff and even finds it easier to make the staff laugh. Brent is hugely resentful and jealous of him, and makes occasional (and largely unsuccessful) attempts to either undermine or rival him.

History

Neil met David Brent previously at a conference in Ipswich, however David doesn't remember this because he was a little bit drunk. (Merger)

Series 1

Neil had to prove to Jennifer Taylor-Clarke that his branch could successfully incorporate the Slough branch. He was reportedly also worried about making redundancies. (Downsize)

Upon receiving the news of the proposed merger, Neil had made some big changes to his branch. He froze any wage increases, put a stop to all over-time, made it so that any purchases over £100 now go through him and had started making redundancies. (Work Experience)

Series 2

When Neil arrived at the Slough office, David continued to insist to the cameras that Neil wasn't his boss and didn't have that much power above him. David later tried to impress Neil, to no avail, by showing him an 18 month old copy of Inside Paper which featured a picture of David. (Merger)

Neil later gave a speech which received much greater critical acclaim than David Brent's failed attempt to make the staff laugh. Later on, Neil was present as David got a telling off for telling racist jokes in the workplace. (Merger)

David, jealous of the rest of the staff's admiration of Neil, interupted a harmless game of cricket in the office and pointed out that Neil trying to be everyone's friend was "pathetic". Neil spoke to David in his office about how he doesn't like being spoken to in such a manner. After leaving, David then began to lie to some of his staff about what Neil spoke to him about a claimed that Neil had been slagging them off. (Appraisals)

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Trivia

• The show's co-creator Ricky Gervais stated in the DVD commentary that Godwin is a character who they intended not be liked.