Inspired by Dinnerladies?
I saw Victoria Wood talking on telly once about how her sitcom Dinnerladies was originally intended to be filmed realistically with no studio audience - much like The Office - but then it morphed into the old fashioned sitcom we actually got.
This struck me as basically exactly the same as When the Whistle Blows. I wondered if this part of Extras was inspired by Dinnerladies - commiserating what we could have had from that show.
Does anyone know?