The IT Crowd

The IT Crowd
File:Itcrowd.png The IT Crowd logo.
Created by	Graham Linehan
Starring	Chris O'Dowd Richard Ayoade Katherine Parkinson
No. of episodes	6 (Series 1)
Production
Producer	talkbackTHAMES
Running time	22 minutes
Original release
Network	Channel 4
Release	3 February 2006

The IT Crowd (IPA: pronounced [ɪt], rather than [aɪ][tiː]) is a Channel 4 sitcom written by Graham Linehan (Father Ted, Black Books) and produced by Ash Atalla (The Office). Currently, only one series of six episodes has been produced, but a second series of eight episodes has been commissioned by Channel 4^[1]. The show was filmed in front of a live audience at Teddington Studios. The first two episodes were broadcast by Channel 4 on Friday 3 February 2006.

In a first for Channel 4, each episode was available for download via the station's web site for the seven days preceding its initial TV broadcast. Downloads are only available for UK viewers and are supplied in Windows Media Video format. Each download was encoded with DRM restrictions, however there was no DRM on the first two episodes. This caused a minor uproar from the internet fanbase. It has been nominated for best sitcom for the 2006 Rose d'Or.

Situation and plot

Template:Spoiler The IT Crowd is set in the offices of Reynholm Industries, a fictional British corporation in central London. It focuses on the shenanigans of the three-strong IT support team located in a dingy, untidy and unkempt basement - a stark contrast to the shining modern architecture and stunning London views enjoyed by the rest of the organisation.

Moss and Roy, the two technicians, are portrayed as socially inept geeks. Despite the company's utter dependence on their services, they are despised by the rest of the staff. Roy's exasperation is reflected in his support techniques of ignoring the phone in the hope it will stop ringing, and using reel-to-reel tape recordings of stock IT suggestions ("Have you tried turning it off and on again?", "Are you sure it's plugged in?"). Moss's wide and intricate knowledge of all things technical is reflected in his extremely accurate yet utterly indecipherable suggestions, while demonstrating a complete inability to deal with practical problems like extinguishing fires and removing spiders.

Jen, the newest member of the team, is hopelessly non-technical, despite claiming on her CV that she has "a lot of experience with computers". As Denholm, the company boss, is equally tech-illiterate, he's convinced by Jen's interview bluffing and appoints her head of the I.T. department. Her official title is "relationship manager", yet her attempts at bridging the gulf between the technicians and the business generally have the opposite effect, landing Jen in situations just as ludicrous as those of her team-mates.

Cast

File:Theitcrowd.jpg

Jen, Moss and Roy

• Roy - Chris O'Dowd: Roy is a laid back, lazy IT engineer who goes to great lengths to avoid performing his role within the organisation. He constantly eats junk food and has a low regard for his career in technology, despite signs that he is more than capable. He is a big fan of comics and often reads them when he is supposed to be working. He also wears a new geek related t-shirt every episode.
• Maurice or "Moss" - Richard Ayoade: Moss (Age 32) is a typical computer nerd, and displays characteristics of Asperger's Syndrome in his personality. The humour in his character is derived from his Aspergers-like comments and his intricate and detailed knowledge.
• Jen - Katherine Parkinson: Jen is a woman who enters the department in episode one as a new starter, placed there seemingly at random by boss Denholm, despite her lack of technical or technology management experience. Her role is that of a relationship manager. She has admitted to a propensity for telling lies in order to further her own goals.
• Denholm Reynholm - Chris Morris: Denholm is a director of Reynholm Industries, and is a parody of modern earnest upper management, always ready with a new and often ridiculous initiative (mixed-gender lavatories in the office, stress-busting seminars, and so forth) to boost performance in a company he openly boasts as employing attractive people who do very little work and are all having affairs. Denholm is very easily distracted however, and often pays little attention to the people he is talking to.
• Richmond Avenal - Noel Fielding: A rather cheerful goth whose new-found love for Cradle of Filth instigates his downfall from being Denholm's second-in-command. He works behind the red door all on his own, shunned by the rest of the department.

Guest appearances

• Daniel Carey - Oliver Chris: Daniel is the security guard that Jen falls for, but unfortunately her plans for romance go pear-shaped after he needs her help on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
• Rebecca - Hannah Bourne: Rebecca goes on a date with Roy after he puts in a classified ad online which made him sound like a psycho.
• Paul, Denholm's cultural adviser - Danny Wallace: Fired by Denholm for his choice of gift to the Japanese, but regains his position after a quick hand on the "Profanity Buzzer"
• Bill Crouse - Adam Buxton: Goes on a date with Jen and after being told by Moss that she'd subsequently died, told the entire office that he was the last person to sleep with her. Nicknamed, "The News," because he is always talking about who he slept with.
• Dr. Julian Holmes - Toby Longworth: A stress expert who visits the company to give a presentation, and ends up very stressed himself due to Roy and Moss.
• Dr. Mendall - Frances Barber: The company psychiatrist who has a crush on Moss. Roy claims that she looks exactly like his mother.
• Judie - Cheryl Fergison: A horribly ugly woman that Roy gets entangled with. Roy claims she has hair on her eyes and three rows of teeth.

Episodes

Series 1

Episode 1 - Yesterday's Jam

The un-technical boss is fooled by Jen's techno-bluffing, and appoints Jen as the manager of the IT support office. She has no idea what she is doing with computers. Roy and Moss want to get rid of her. She does not want to work in a basement, and Roy and Moss do not want a manager at all (each one thought he was in charge) but they accept her in the end.

Episode 2 - Calamity Jen

Denholm declares a "War on Stress". Moss and Roy attend a seminar on stress while Jen buys a pair of shoes she falls in love with, but which are two sizes too small, causing plenty of stress in the basement. A fire breaks out after a soldering iron is used, causing many problems.

Episode 3 - Fifty-Fifty

Jen impresses the security guard Daniel by correctly guessing the answers to some of his musical questions. Roy and Moss invent a dangerous persona in an attempt to solicit people on an online dating site in order to win a bet. However, things go horribly wrong when Daniel realizes that Jen was just guessing as he loses at Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? This episode stars Graham Linehan and Chris Tarrant as himself.

Episode 4 - The Red Door

While Roy becomes stuck under a desk with Moss attempting to rescue him, Jen investigates the strange red door in the basement, leading to her discovery of Richmond, a lonely Goth. Jen discovers Richmond's fall from grace through a series of flashbacks and tries to help him, while Roy tries not to become a "desk rabbit".

Episode 5 - The Haunting of Bill Crouse

Moss tells an extraordinary lie to help Jen escape the attention of Bill Crouse - he tells him that she is dead. Meanwhile, Roy is trying to escape the attention of a woman of his own.

Episode 6 - Aunt Irma Visits

Jen's menstrual cycle has unexpected consequences for the office, with her colleagues all directly suffering from the associated effects. Roy, Moss, even Richmond is gloomy. Furthermore, Moss has sent an email to many people in the IT community, causing "Aunt Irma" riots and the "Ladyproblems.com" website to be devoted to them, bearing an image of them wearing women's lingerie and handbags. The only cure is to have a big girly night out with scented candles, and Steel Magnolias saves the day. However they then all go to the company's "Thank-You" party, get extremely drunk and wake up in screaming in bed with various people.

Cultural references

Despite its deliberate traditional sitcom format, the density of the show's geek cultural references quite possibly exceeds anything previously seen on TV. While clearly exaggerated for effect, many of the iconic props and dressings are commonly found in IT departments:

• The Slashdot and Boing Boing websites appear on Roy's monitor.
• Endless old computers, including a Pet, ZX81, BBC Micro and Mac Plus are strewn around the basement.
• Posters for retro computer games Elite, Underwurlde and Alien 8.
• Posters of old 8-bit computers, including the Atari 8-bit family and the Commodore 64.
• Great Quantities of Atari 2600 cartridges.
• Boxed versions of discontinued PC software - Xara Studio; Starship Titanic; The Lost Treasures of Infocom.
• Walls and desks are covered with Indie comics swag, including plastic action figures and posters of Jim Woodring's Frank and Pulque, Jimmy Corrigan, Daniel Clowes's Eightball, and others.
• A poster of Matthew Gast's 802.11 Protocol Map
• The office is plastered with EFF stickers, including 'Mp3 is not a Crime' and 'Fair Use has a posse'.
• A menagerie of O'Reilly Media animals - including the Perl camel and a moth mug - occupy the office.
• Warning/information signs are used decoratively - 'Emergency Exit' on Moss's desk; a WIFI hotspot; 'Beware of the bull'.
• The title sequence animation includes a Judge Dredd poster and a Linux kernel version 2.6.11 panicking during a Fedora Core 4 installation on Moss's PC (frequently mistaken for a Windows blue screen of death).
• Artwork includes Kozyndan's 'Uprisings' - a tribute to Japanese artist Hokusai's The Great Wave - and the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
• There is a poster for the book The Monkey on the wall.
• A lava lamp appears atop the filing cabinet; shelves display a Rubik's Cube, Clock and the GSR game 'Open Secrets'.
• Roy has worn t-shirts showing "RTFM", an alien from Space Invaders, the Flash's lightning bolt, the 256th level of Pac-Man, Guided By Voices, and the number 42 (one of many Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy references that appear in the show).
• A poster saying Open Source, written in what seems to be Google's livery can been seen behind Roy's desk.
• Roy's bedroom include several references to comics as well. They include an action figure from the manga series Ghost in the Shell.
• The slideshow at the end of "Yesterday's Jam" is a stock iPhoto slideshow, using the notorious Ken Burns effect and even playing the supplied stock music, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, in the background
• A poster for the Boards of Canada album The Campfire Headphase.
• Moss can be seen playing F.E.A.R. on his computer.
• At the start of one episode Roy is singing the line "We don't need no education" (from the Pink Floyd song Another Brick in the Wall). Moss corrects him "Yes you do, you just used a double negative!"
• A NES can be seen on the shelf behind Moss' desk.

Like the physical props, the dialogue (both technical and cultural) contains authentic references. Any technobabble is likely to be an in-joke for geek viewers, and most episodes contain both film and music references:

• Cradle of Filth, as mentioned in episode 4 (The Red Door), do exist, however 'Coffin Fodder' as mentioned during the funeral scene, is not track four on any of their albums, but actually track nine of Nymphetamine. Furthermore, the band are referred to by Richmond as a darkwave band, which is incorrect. They are, in fact, a black metal band.
• The title of episode 5, "The Haunting of Bill Crouse" is a reference to The Haunting of Hill House.
• Jen's scream at the end of 'The Haunting of Bill Crouse' is a direct reference to the final shot of Philip Kaufman's 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers
• The title sequence music by The Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon draws heavily from Gary Numan's Are 'Friends' Electric? and "Everyday I Die".
• During the first episode, Moss is heard having a telephone conversation explaining the dangers of unloading driver code in a preemptive kernel. The dialogue is very similar to a passage in a blog entry by Windows programmer Mark Russinovich, then referring to First4Internet's XCP copy protection software.

Another cultural reference occurs in Episode 2, with a clip relating to the new emergency phone number for Britain. The commercial states it has been changed from the normal 9-9-9 to 0-1-1-8-9-9-9-8-8-1-9-9-9-1-1-9-7-2-5-3. Moss suggests the reason for this is that people are constantly mixing the number up with the American 9-1-1, as Roy does seconds later when he tries to downplay the changes. This joke is a reference at the recent change of Directory Enquiries from 192 to various 118 xxx numbers.

DVD

Play.com and Amazon.co.uk are listing the Series 1 DVD with a release date of October 9th, 2006.

References

• ^ The IT Crowd to Return for Second Series

External links

• Channel4.com - The IT Crowd
• TV.com Program Site
• The IT Crowd episode guide at The TV IV
• The IT Crowd at IMDb
• The original IT Crowd site
• The British Sitcom Guide