Jasmine Sahu is well suited with this new American drama exclusive to Dave.
Lois Cameron explains why this series is much more than your average cosy period drama.
The last episode of this series sees Sherlock and Moriarty attempt to solve the final problem with devastating consequences.
With major cast changes afoot, Jacob Martin ponders whether Being Human can live up to its own scarily high standard.
With three award-winning series under its belt, the return of The IT Crowd to Channel 4 for its fourth outing to our screens was special in many ways. Whilst the reappearance of much-beloved characters, however geeky and dysfunctional they are, is always a joy to behold, there is special significance for comedy writer extraordinaire Graham Linehan. While he has been involved in the creation of many cult series, such as Father Ted, Big Train and the exemplary Black Books, this is officially his longest running sitcom. Which is no mean feat seeing how against the mainstream it is.
As an opener, ‘Jen the Fredo’ stuck to the formula that has worked for this series for so long and yet remains fresh and interesting. In this episode we see Jen (Katherine Parkinson) taking on the role of Entertainments Manager, mistaking this as a way to showcase her love of culture to visiting businessmen, though her experience comes from having seen We Will Rock You four times. Meanwhile, down in the basement, Roy (Chris O’Dowd) is struggling to get over a break-up and Moss (Richard Ayoade) doles out life advice and is planning the ultimate role-playing extravaganza.
The first act works well to set up the various problems of the three main characters, but where The IT Crowd always excels is in the final ten minutes when all the storylines get stitched together so expertly that although some of the consequences feel inevitable, the unexpected ones are sheer and utter perfection. The moment that exemplifies Linehan’s genius is the meeting of Moss and Roy’s storylines, where the game of Dungeons and Dragons descends into the realms of therapy. It would be difficult to write how flawlessly crafted the sequence is where Moss uses his role-playing character Queen Eliza Eldridge to help Roy get over his recent break-up. The performances by Ayoade and O’Dowd are a fantastic reminder of what would happen if such a moment of absurdity were placed in less capable hands: this highlight could have become such a liability, one which could have warranted a sitcom’s cancellation.
As always, there is one major niggle with this show: the laugh track. This annoyance could be due to the increased amount of comedies which are not filmed in front of a studio audience (such as The Office, 30 Rock and Modern Family) but hearing laughter after every joke, some of which sounds fake, does make this comedy feel somewhat dated. The writing in this series is strong enough without cueing what’s meant to be funny.
A fifth series of The IT Crowd has already been commissioned, and, on the strength of this fantastically well crafted opening episode, there is definitely a lot of life left in this sitcom. The fact that this show is one of the few decent British sitcoms, alongside The Thick of It, currently on our screens that will stand the test of time makes its return to the small screen all the sweeter.
You must log in to submit a comment.
