Review of IT Crowd, The: Series 1

Introduction

10/10! Go buy it!

You want more? I know, it`s unprofessional of me, but this is the first time I have ever fallen in love with a DVD just from the initial Copyright Warning screen. Now that`s something I never thought would happen. However, this season one disc of The IT Crowd is targeted firmly at the geek audience, despite the broader humour of the series. When I placed the disc in the player, the inevitable copyright screen confronted me, only this one was in the form of a Spectrum loading screen (complete with loading screech, and the Speedload routine that changes the colours of the stripes). I was in retro heaven. The retro geek feel applies to the menus too, and without watching any of the episodes, I was inclined to give this disc full marks. That will never do though, so I guess I better talk about the series a bit.

The IT Crowd is a comedy set in an office, which seems to be somewhat redundant now that Ricky Gervais has cornered the market. However the IT Crowd settles its sights on the odd dynamic that exists between the average company and its IT department, and coming from the pen of Graham Linehan, it`s bound to be suffused with the same surrealism that typified his earlier Father Ted and Black Books.

The bedlam begins when Jen starts work at Reynholm Industries. However, a white lie on her CV indicates that she would be good with computers, a lie that sends her careering down to the basement of the building, where all IT departments traditionally lie, staffed by those savants that it would be unwise to expose the world to. Reynholm`s resident computer geniuses are Roy and Moss, and their social skills are stereotypically non-existent. For someone like Jen, more suited to the tactile realm of human resources, this is akin to a punishment. But she resolves to make the best of a bad situation, and rehabilitate her new co-workers to somewhere close to presentable. Over six episodes, we explore this odd corporate world run by utterly bonkers boss Denham, including issues like stress management, office romance, the dangers of gossip and lies, Goths behind sealed doors, and that time of the month.

Episodes include…

Yesterday`s Jam
Calamity Jen
Fifty-fifty
The Red Door
The Haunting Of Bill Crouse
Aunt Irma Visits

Video

A 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer presents The IT Crowd at close to broadcast quality. At one point during Fifty-fifty I noticed some obvious compression artefacts, and there were a couple of scenes out of focus, but it`s nothing to hamper viewing.

Audio

A DD 2.0 stereo track, and again it`s all broadcast quality and the dialogue is clear throughout. Subtitles are there if you require them.

Features

I luurve this disc. I want to stroke it, and polish it, and show it off to all my geek friends. It has my favourite menus. Ever!

The 8-bit theme evinced by that beautiful retro copyright screen is extended throughout, with menus based on 8-bit games that will be familiar to most males of my generation. The main characters get turned into C64 quality sprites, and are inserted into Spectrum games reminiscent of the episodes on this disc. If you click on Episode Select, you`re treated to Head Over Heels, Extras sends you into Jet Set Willy, and Set Up is based around the Elite front screen. Even the disc credits are presented as a Spectrum BASIC program listing. All that it needed was some colour-clash and I would be wiping tears of nostalgia as I type.

That isn`t all, as this disc also boasts copious extras for fans of the show, most prominent of which are two commentary tracks for all six episodes. The first features writer/director Graham Linehan, and he talks about making the show, and how he considers it a work in progress in anticipation of the second series. It`s quite detailed and fairly self-deprecating. In the Cast commentary, Chris O`Dowd (Roy) and Katherine Parkinson (Jen) join Graham, and this is a livelier affair, more on the lighter side.

There are 9 minutes of deleted scenes, which is pretty self-explanatory. Don`t touch a thing when they finish though, as they are followed straight after by an unadvertised 11 minutes of goof ups and outtakes. For once, these are funny.

Behind The IT Crowd lasts 14 minutes, and begins with a charming p***-take of the THX logo. In it, Adam Buxton (of Adam and Joe) presents a mockumentary where a character of his interviews the cast and crew of the show.

Hello Friend is an 11-minute short film by Graham Linehan made in 2002, warning of the perils of spam. It guest stars David Walliams and Richard Ayoade (Moss).

Finally there is a L33T subtitle track, which translates the episode dialogue into L33T-speak for the first episode, and becomes progressively incomprehensible as the series progresses. The charm rapidly wears off this one though.

Conclusion

I was certainly hasty in my effusive praise for this disc, as the presentation pushed all my nostalgia buttons. Watching the episodes however was a comparative disappointment, comprising a show that is merely very, very funny. It must be said though that of the three Graham Linehan shows that I have seen, The IT Crowd is the weakest. I think that because it approaches reality more, it lacks the sense of utter bizarreness and surreal characterisations of Black Books and Father Ted. Still, compared to your average BBC sitcom, The IT Crowd is still like a waltz through Dali`s subconscious.

One thing that is apparent is that the show certainly improves as it goes on. It`s odd given that as mentioned in the commentary the episodes were shot out of sequence, but the latter half is invariably hilarious, while the first three episodes are more hit and miss. Linehan mentions that this is very much a rough draft, and that he`s basically trying out ideas and situations, before settling down and refining the comedy for the second series. You can also see some familiar ideas recycled here. The stress reduction episode has hints of The Little Book Of Calm to it, while the episode where Roy gets trapped under a desk between two female office workers is very reminiscent of priests trapped in a lingerie department.

Yet the situation shows promise from the first episode, anyone who frequents the Internet must know of the friction that exists between the average IT department and the rest of a company, and Roy`s catchphrase of "Have you tried turning it off and on again" must be echoed regularly in office buildings throughout the world. When you take the traditional perception of the IT bod to be varying levels of geek, and introduce someone more suited to interpersonal relationships into that dynamic, hilarity is bound to ensue.

The casting is excellent, and it`s Chris Morris as bonkers boss Denham who establishes the typically surreal tone of the show. Denham is over the top, bellicose, capricious and absurd, and Morris plays up to those traits splendidly. He`s the sort of boss who warns that anyone not managing their stress by the end of the day will be fired. The main cast is also excellent, and the Laurel & Hardy pairing (Linehan`s words, not mine) of Roy and Moss works sublimely. Moss is the ubergeek, down to the clothing, haircut and utter pedantry. It`s a brilliant portrayal by Richard Ayoade that never quite crosses the line into parody. It`s Roy (Chris O`Dowd) who aspires to be more than a geek, believes he knows the ways of the world, and is suave around the opposite sex, despite the fact that repeated experience indicates otherwise. They remain isolated in the basement of the building until Jen (Katherine Parkinson) shows up, and in her own aspirations to remain in touch with the upper world, sees about rehabilitating the two, to diminishing degrees of success. All of a sudden, the IT department is in direct contact with the non-computer literate section of the population they spend their time ridiculing (and vice versa), and she`s female.

What makes the IT Crowd work is a surprising lack of technobabble. Despite being set in the bowels of an IT department, you won`t have to worry about knowing your SCSI from your USB. It takes it for granted that the characters are skilled in what they are doing, but makes sure the comedy comes from our expectations of their stereotypes and how they interact, Jen is enchanted by a pair of shoes, Moss has to pause during an emergency to carefully decipher the instructions on a fire extinguisher, and Roy is unable to communicate with women. When all of this is filtered through Graham Linehan`s surreal mind, what results is unremittingly hilarious.

The IT Crowd doesn`t quite hit the lofty heights of Black Books and Father Ted, but that is certainly no reason to dismiss it. In fact, it just improves as it progresses, and this series finishes on a high note, very promising for the second series. The disc is lovingly packed with a nice selection of extras, and the presentation is divine. Never in my experience with DVDs has a copyright screen made me give a squeak of joy. This wouldn`t be out of place in your Christmas stocking, then again, why wait that long?