Richard Ayoade

Richard Ayoade: I was a lone wolf throughout school

Richard Ayoade talks to Metro about his new film Submarine, playing Maurice Moss in The IT Crowd, and his embarrassing first crush.

Video: Creating the agonising moments of film Submarine

The British film "Submarine" tells the heart warming tale of a young man's first experience of love and has already had rave reviews at this year's Toronto, London and Sundance film festivals.

It is directed by the Perrier award winning comedian Richard Ayoade, known for his roles in shows such as The Mighty Boosh and The IT Crowd, and stars Craig Roberts as 15-year-old Oliver Tate.

They spoke to BBC Breakfast about what it was like to make the film.

Submarine review

You might just want to stop everything and get yourself a ticket to Richard Ayoade's film of Submarine. We might just be talking about this one for a long time...

Richard Ayoade interview

In person, Richard Ayoade's the world's most softly-spoken man, analysing every word, considering every syllable, visibly agonising over being misconstrued and taken out of context...

Richard Ayoade takes the helm for Submarine

Not since The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole has there been a teenage character like Oliver Tate - whose self-obsessed and sometimes hilarious inner monologues are the subject of Submarine.

Submarine - Richard Ayoade

Already a contender for film of the year.

Richard Ayoade: Meet Mr Modest

He's The IT Crowd über-geek who has been labelled the 'coolest man in London'. Now Richard Ayoade has made his first feature film. But it's not something to boast about, he tells Alexis Petridis.

So numerous and so pronounced are the foibles of the modern celebrity chef that this sitcom manages to satirise most of them without ever making it seem as if it's going after a particular individual. Tonight, Roland (played by Alan Davies; but increasingly using the mannerisms of Richard Ayoade) finds his patience sorely tested when superchef Shay Marshall pays the restaurant a visit. Interestingly, he decides now is the time to greenlight Bib's pretentious new menu.

The fourth series of Graham Linehan's workplace comedy continues. In tonight's episode, Jen (Katherine Parkinson) finally decides to attend the weekly head-of-department meetings she's been avoiding. She arrives to find a mysterious gathering of women in dressing gowns. Meanwhile, geeky Moss (Richard Ayoade) triumphs as a contestant on Countdown and gains access to a secret nightclub for past winners.

The adorable Moss (Richard Ayoade) goes from loser to schmoozer when a string of victories on TV's Countdown gains him admittance to a secret, exclusive club where men in jam-jar specs, checked shirts and fabric ties are fawned over by scantily clad women. Lunatic flights of fancy are what this series does best and Moss's experiences in this Bizarro-style universe don't disappoint. Sure, the typically odd twists of fate that afflict his luckless colleagues Jen (Katherine Parkinson) and Roy (Chris O'Dowd) back in the real world feel tacked on, but the sight of Moss playing the urban "Street Countdown" around burning braziers, a baying mob and wire fencing is a winningly loopy one. I can certainly see his clear-eyed threat to a slang-talking opponent of "I came here to drink milk and kick ass... and I've just finished my milk" finding its way on to geek chic T-shirts.