The IT Crowd

British sitcom about two male IT experts and their female boss working in the basement of Reynholm Industries. The episodes were written by Graham Linehan and produced by Ash Atalla. The sitcom consists of 4 series comprising six episodes each, which were broadcast on Channel 4 from February 3, 2006 till July 30, 2010. Though commissioned, the fifth series was never produced and all the episodes were finally crowned with a special 47-minute-long episode aired September 27 2013. The first series was shot in front of a live audience in the Teddington Studios. For the second season the Pinewood Studios were used.

Since according to Linehan the title of the sitcom was born as a pun to the song "The ‘In’ Crowd" (1965) (Q & A's), it was first pronounced as “The It /ˈɪt/ Crowd”. The more popular variant is “The IT /ˌaɪˈtiː/, Crowd” like the abbreviation for information technology.

Plot

The situation takes place in the office of the fictional British corporation Reynholm Industries situated in the centre of London. The plot develops around the team for technical support consisting of three people, who work in a dirty neglected basement, which strikes the audience with its shabbiness highly contrasting with the posh and spacious surrounding and fascinating scenes of London accessible to the other workers of the company.

Moss and Roy are two technicians shown as typical nerds. Though many employees have to contact them asking for help, they all disdain the two geeks. Roy is always irritated by the calls, which disturb him from the “real” work or a more interesting discussion. To prevent himself from asking the same question, he constructed an automatic recording system with standard questions and advice: “Have you tried turning it on and off again?” “Are you sure it is plugged in?” Roy’s friend Moss is very broad-minded and has such a profound knowledge in technical sciences that he always finds the right solution to the problem; though his explanations are too complicated for comprehension by the others.

In series one Jen is a new member of the team and contrasts drastically with its male part. Though in her CV she wrote that she “has a great experience working with computers” she is absolutely lost in the technical side of the question. Since Denholm, the head of the company, is equally incompetent, he is easily convinced by Jen during the interview so that he makes her the head of the department. Later the official title is changed to relationship manager underlining her attempts to build a bridge between her department and other colleagues. Nevertheless, she does not reach her aim and looks as ridiculous as her two co-workers.

Main Characters

• Chris O’Dowd as Roy Trenneman is a laid-back Irish IT specialist, tending to swerve from his duties by any means. He constantly gobbles junk food and disdains his job, though having all the knowledge to fulfil his responsibilities. Roy is a big fan of comics and often reads them during the workday. In each episode he wears a T-shirt demonstrating the logo of different computer games, programs and famous quotes. Before Reynholm Industries Roy used to work as a waiter and in case the client was rude to him, he put the meal in his trousers before bringing the order.

• Richard Ayoade as Maurice Moss. He is 32 years old; though on the dating website he wrote that he is 22. He is a typical computer nerd. His comments seem very ridiculous and socially ignorant. He lives with his mother and often visits dating websites. While having detailed knowledge of specialized technical subjects, including chemistry and electronic engineering, he is not keen on typical male topics as sports. Both Moss and his friend Roy are deeply sure that they deserve more than they got in the company.

• Katherine Parkinson as Jen Barber. She was named the head of the IT department due to the lack of proficiency of her future boss. In reality she knows nothing about computers and hence has conflicts and misunderstandings with other colleagues. Jen often lies to reach her goals. In the first episode she arbitrarily changes her title to relationship manager. However, in the meeting of all the heads of departments she still represents the IT department. For the audience Jen seems to be more adequate and sane than her two subordinates. Nevertheless, she is quite a loser in the sitcom and finds herself in comic situations as often as Roy and Moss.

• Chris Morris as Denholm Reyholm. He used to be the boss of the company and embodied a parody on a top manager, constantly having new wacky ideas such as mixed toilets, seminars on leading stress and other issues directed on the improvement of the working atmosphere. He is quite strict and never pays attention to the interlocutor. Moreover, he does not take another opinion into account.

• Matt Berry as Douglas Reyholm. The son of Denholm Douglas holds the office of the boss after the death of his father. He vanished 7 years ago after a court hearing on sexual abuse, but suddenly reappeared at the funeral of his dad. Douglas demonstrates the traits his father had, for example, arrogance.

• Noel Fielding as Richmond Avenal. He is a Goth, whose sudden attraction to the band Cradle of Filth led to the reduction of his position. Now he works alone in the room behind the red door, where servers are placed. Both technicians shy away from him, fearing his gloominess to be infectious. However, Richmond considers himself very funny. And in later episodes, he gets rid of his Goth look.

Broadcast

The show is broadcast internationally.

• Sony Entertainment Television (Latin America) aired The IT Crowd from June 12, 2007 for the countries of Latin America. In Brazil the show has been broadcast on 1. Sat.

• Canadian digital channel G4techTV ran the broadcasting from July 16, 2007.

• ABC TV showed the series in Australia.

• ETV has aired the show in Estonia.

• GTV in Bulgaria started airing the episodes in July 2008.

• Comedy Central Germany made the first series available only in September 2009.

• Two Channels Comedy Central Poland and TVP2 made the series available in Poland.

• In the Czech Republic the show was also broadcast on two channels Česká televize and HBO.

• Though the adaptation had no success the original episodes were shown in the United States on IFC.

• In Denmark the episodes were shown on TV2.

• Canal+ aired the sitcom in Spain.

• In Mexico the show appeared on Canal 11 since 2010.

One week before the release of the following episode it was available on the official webpage of Channel 4, but only for the citizens of Great Britain. The episodes were recorded in the format of Windows Media Video, and secured by the technology DRM.

Adaptations

NBC has filmed a pilot version for the US on 16 February 2007. The main characters were played by American actors. Only Richard Ayoade was kept as Moss. The series was to be shown in 2007-8, but was cancelled in 2008 (American Adaptation).

The German version of the sitcom was developed from June 2007 on. It starred Sebastian Münster, Stefan Puntigam and Britta Holm. The series premiered on 4 January 2008 on SAT 1. After the first episode the adaptation was heavily criticized in the Internet for the low quality of translation, production and acting of Stefan Puntigam playing Gabriel (German version of Moss). Due to the low ratings the show was closed after the second episode in January 2008 (Junklewitz).

Awards

The show has won awards as the best sitcom from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTAs) in 2009 and 2014, the International Emmy Awards in 2008, the Rose d’Or Light Entertainment Festival in 2008, and also from the fan voted Comedy.co.uk Awards organized by the British Comedy Guide in 2007.

Individual awards have been given to Richard Ayoade as “Outstanding Actor - Comedy Series” at the Monte Carlo TV Festival 2008 and “Best Male Performance in a Comedy Program” by BAFTA Awards in 2014, to Katherine Parkinson as “Best TV Comedy Actress” on the British Comedy Awards 29 and “Best Female Performance in a Comedy Role” by BAFTA Awards in 2014 (Awards).

Sources

1. Junklewitz, Christian. "Ortstermin: Setbesuch 'IT-Crowd' in Hürth." Serienjunkies, http://www.serienjunkies.de/news/ortstermin-setbesuch-16234.html. Accessed 6 July 2020.

2. “Q & A’s Graham Linehan answers your questions.” theitcrowd.co.uk, http://theitcrowd.co.uk/q-a/. Accessed 6 July 2020.

3. "The IT Crowd American Adaptation (Unused 2007 Scripts)." Lost Media Archive, http://lostmedia.wikia.com/wiki/The_IT_Crowd_American_Adaptation_%28Unused_2007_Scripts%29. Accessed 6 July 2020.

4. “The IT Crowd Awards.” IMDb, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0487831/awards. Accessed 6 July 2020.