Graham Linehan

Was I too hasty about The IT Crowd?

For two years straight, I gave The IT Crowd worst show of the year. I only judged it so harshly because I expected so much. I mean, it was written by Graham Linehan and I love him. I probably shouldn't tell you this... it's probably bad journalistic form or something... but I think it'll make you laugh.

Episode 3.6 Review

I still say this third season has been The IT Crowd's best, but the latter-half definitely dropped the ball. The slack pace, cruel elements and paucity of belly-laughs was 'Calendar Geeks' undoing.

Episode 3.5 Review

The penultimate episode of this much-improved third season is sadly its weakest. The idea of satirising social networking sites is rich ground for comedy, but nothing is taken to any particularly original directions by writer Graham Linehan.

Episode 3.4 Review

A good, solid episode all round. Once again, this was far funnier after the advert break than before it, which is quite common for IT Crowd's set-up and pay-off style.

Whenever he appears, playboy boss Douglas Reynholm threatens to take over this sitcom and make it his. Matt Berry's barnstorming performance as Douglas is entirely in tune with Graham Linehan's writing: it's daft but so confidently, riotously daft that you can't help wanting to know where it leads. If there's a drawback, it's that Linehan's ideas can be more brilliant than his plotting.

Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe took time off from spewing cheery vitriol across the television schedules to interview writers about the craft of writing.

These were clearly writers that Brooker admired, so his interview technique was disconcertingly sympathetic. The end result was a masterclass from such luminaries as Russell T Davies, Paul Abbott, Tony Jordan and Graham Linehan. All of whom spoke wittily and winningly about the combination of prevarication, panic and perspiration that produces a television script.

Ironically, the most pertinent point of a fascinating 50 minutes was made by a writer who wasn't even present. Abbott quoted Jimmy McGovern on the ever prickly problem of presenting exposition in dialogue: 'I would rather be confused for ten minutes than bored for five seconds.'

Episode 3.2 Review

Overall, 'Are We Not Men?' was definitely one of the better IT Crowd episodes in a long time.

In praise of the nerdiest of computer nerds

Graham Linehan's brilliant sitcom The IT Crowd, set in the computer support department of a large corporation, has just waltzed off with the International Emmy award for best comedy. Since it first booted up on Channel 4 in 2006, the show has gradually gained the respect and affection of critics and fans alike.

IT manager on The IT Crowd

The Guardian asks an IT manager what he thinks of The IT Crowd: There was one moment in this show when Roy, the main character, was summoned up to the top floor to open the lid of his boss's laptop, and I felt his pain. In my last job, I was asked by a lady to reboot the internet for her.

Comparisons to Father Ted will follow co-creator Graham Linehan to his grave (not helped by the fact The IT Crowd also features three oddballs, one of whom is a man-child), but it's never quite captured the Ted magic. As one of the few studio-based sitcoms that isn't pandering to realism right now, it's refreshing as a throwback to pre-Office times, but the characters lack much texture and charm (Roy and Mos are just a collection of tics and quirks) and the script's dependency on 'set-up and pay-off' for its laughs are badly shoved into plots.