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The IT Crowd ( /ˈɪt/ or /ˌaɪˈtiː/)[1] is a BAFTA and Emmy award-winning British sitcom by Channel 4 written and directed by Graham Linehan and starring Richard Ayoade, Chris O'Dowd, Katherine Parkinson and Matt Berry.
Set in the London offices of the fictional corporation Reynholm Industries, the show revolves around the three staff members of its IT department - the two technicians named Moss (Ayoade) and Roy (O'Dowd), and their manager Jen (Parkinson).
The programme began on Channel 4 on 3 February 2006, a total of 24 episodes have aired over the course of four series. A fifth series was commissioned,[2] however, on the social news site reddit, Graham Linehan stated that there would not be a series 5 and that there will only be a special in 2012 instead, he also went onto say that a movie could surface if he could write a good enough script which would impress the cast.[3] The following article is a list of episodes.
| Series | Episodes | Originally aired | DVD release date[Note 1][Note 2] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series premiere | Series finale | Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | ||||
| 1 | 6 | 3 February 2006 | 3 March 2006 | 31 March 2009[4] | 13 October 2006 | 6 December 2006[5] | ||
| 2 | 6 | 24 August 2007 | 28 September 2007 | 30 June 2009[6] | 1 October 2007 | 19 March 2009[7] | ||
| 3 | 6 | 21 November 2008 | 26 December 2008 | 15 September 2009[8] | 16 March 2009 | 1 April 2010[9] | ||
| 4 | 6 | 25 June 2010 | 30 July 2010 | 14 December 2010[10] | 27 September 2010[11] | 2 December 2010 | ||
| Special | 1 | Early/Late 2012 | Early/Late 2012 | 2012[6] | 2012 | 2012[12] | ||
| Overall No. | Series No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Yesterday's Jam" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 3 February 2006 |
| Jen (Katherine Parkinson) is interviewed for a position at Reynholm Industries by Denholm (Christopher Morris). Fooled by her claim on her CV that she has "a lot of experience with computers" Denholm hires her, and while she believes she will be the new Ally McBeal, he banishes her to the basement with "standard nerds" Roy (Chris O'Dowd) and Moss (Richard Ayoade). Resistant to the idea of a new manager, and in the belief that Jen knows nothing about computers, Moss and Roy set out to expose her, but when Denholm threatens to fire the whole team over their lack of teamwork, they pretend to get on with her, without exposing her secret. When Denholm asks why they came to see him, Roy invents an alibi that they came to inform him that they had just installed voice-activation software on his computer, and the episode ends with Denholm repeatedly trying to get the computer to respond to his voice. | |||||
| 2 | 2 | "Calamity Jen" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 3 February 2006 |
| Jen is obsessed with a pair of shoes in a shop window. Despite the fact they are several sizes too small, Jen later sneaks out to buy them. Denholm starts a war on stress, threatening to fire anyone who is still experiencing stress by the end of the day. As a result, the trio are persuaded to attend an anti-stress class which Roy continually disrupts. To avoid being fired, Moss builds a copy of the stress measurement machine from the class, and Roy steals the original. Moss sets the office on fire by using the soldering iron incorrectly, and e-mails the fire brigade for help since he can't remember their new number (0118 999 881 999 119 7253). Denholm comes down to test Jen on the stress machine, and despite being hysterical due to the fire and her injuries from the shoes, the threat of being fired is enough to save her. The fire brigade eventually arrive after it is revealed that the stress machine was not working. | |||||
| 3 | 3 | "Fifty-Fifty" "50:50" "50/50" |
Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 10 February 2006 |
| Roy's date with a woman goes horribly wrong after she mistakes some chocolate on his head for faeces. Despite Roy's insistence that "it's not shit," he declares that the woman didn't like him because women only like "bad boys" and devises a plan to prove his theory by posting a despicable singles ad. After getting many responses, Roy arranges a date with a surprisingly good-looking woman and sets out to act like a "bastard" to progress their relationship. Jen has been impressing the temporary security guard with her fluke-knowledge of obscure facts and after he tells her he will call at a certain time, it is revealed that he has selected her as his "phone a friend" on the quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. After being asked out on national television, Jen is presented with the real "big question," and things inevitably go awry. Moss suggests that Roy and Jen take their dates to a great restaurant called "Messijo's," but they fail to spot his mispronunciation and end up at "Messy Joe's", a popular family restaurant. After the ineptitude of both is exposed, Roy and Jen's dates leave together, and Roy ruins what could potentially have been a close moment between the two. | |||||
| 4 | 4 | "The Red Door" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 17 February 2006 |
| Moss finds himself frustrated at repeated theft of his mug. To prevent further recurrence, Moss gets a new mug that no one could possibly steal, as it has a picture of his head on the bottom--but the inevitable happens. After heading upstairs to resolve an IT problem, Roy finds himself in an uncomfortable situation under a female employee's desk. After Roy calls Moss for help to escape, Jen investigates a strange red door in the department. Despite repeated instruction to not open the door, Jen's curiosity gets the better of her, and she discovers Richmond (Noel Fielding), a lonely goth and the fourth employee of the IT Department. A series of flashbacks paint a bleak picture of Richmond's fall from grace at Reynholm Industries – Richmond was Denholm's right hand man until the death of his father and (coincidentally) his discovery of the dark-wave band Cradle of Filth. Touched by his story, Jen sets out to help and restore Richmond to his former glory. Meanwhile, Roy continues to be trapped under a desk, leaving him fighting a losing battle to not become a "desk rabbit" (a term coined by Moss), but Jen rescues him by successfully distracting the two women from their desks. The episode ends with Moss searching through a mountain of china to find his missing mug, with which Richmond and Denholm are both seen. | |||||
| 5 | 5 | "The Haunting of Bill Crouse" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 24 February 2006 |
| After a terrible dinner date, Jen finds herself continually trying to avoid Bill "The News" Crouse. She asks self-confessed "terrible liar" Moss to cover for her, and he tells Bill that Jen has died. Moss believes that the problem is solved, but the story quickly gains momentum, and Bill continues to tell anyone who will listen that he was the last person to sleep with Jen. Meanwhile Jen, who is blissfully unaware of Moss's lie, continues to go about her daily business, but it appears that her spirit is haunting all of Reynholm Industries, especially Bill. Roy is trying to attract the attention of Julie, the attractive girl from the fifth floor (a place Roy refers to as "The Land of the Beautiful People"), but his effort only succeeds in drawing the admiring glances of someone at the opposite end of the scale – Judy, the office cleaner. Elsewhere, Small Paul dies, and the office holds a memorial service for Jen, to which Denholm invites his good friend Elton John. However, Jen crashes the ceremony, mistaking it for her "Employee of the Month" award presentation. The episode ends with everyone attending Small Paul's memorial service and Elton John playing the piano. | |||||
| 6 | 6 | "Aunt Irma Visits" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 3 March 2006 |
| Jen's period (nicknamed "Aunt Irma" and explained to Moss as "the first scene from Carrie") has unexpected consequences as her colleagues begin to suffer sympathy pains. Moss sends an e-mail out to everyone he knows, and as a result many IT staff learn of the problems Roy and Moss are suffering, turning them into Internet celebrities and inciting "Aunt Irma" riots throughout the world. Back at Reynholm, with "Project Icarus" complete, all the teams are assembled before Denholm. Thanks are dished out to everyone except the IT Department, and Roy and Moss insist that this "always happens." Moss has been having sessions with the attractive company psychiatrist (whom Roy insists looks exactly like his mother), but she informs him that he no longer needs her help. Later, she goes to the IT department to tell Moss she stopped seeing him as a patient so she could explore her feelings for him. The gang initially decides not to go to the celebration party at work, but with their night in with scented candles and the movie Steel Magnolias not helping, they decide the only solution is a big "girls' night out." They attend the party, Moss meets up with the psychiatrist, and they all get incredibly drunk. The next morning, Moss emerges from Jen's bathroom, Roy wakes up to the psychiatrist offering him a cup of tea, and Denholm wakes up with Richmond. The episode ends with "To Be Continued", but these events are never mentioned again. | |||||
| Overall No. | Series No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 1 | "The Work Outing" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 24 August 2007 |
| Jen is asked on a date by "Phillip from Six" to watch a play, and when Roy and Moss doubt the heterosexuality of her date, they invite themselves along in the hope of hilarity ensuing. Roy and Moss's suspicions are further reinforced when the play turns out to be a production of "Gay! – A Gay Musical", during which the two are mistaken for a couple during the audience participation segment. During the intermission, Moss and Roy find their path to the lavatories blocked by an attendant, so they use the staff and disabled facilities respectively. However, when confronted by the rightful users of the toilets, Roy pretends to be disabled, and Moss a staff member. Jen confronts her date about his sexuality and when Jen mentions his interest in her Heat magazine, he comes clean, saying he hoped his relationship with Jen would work because she looks like a man. | |||||
| 8 | 2 | "Return of the Golden Child" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 31 August 2007 |
| Moss discovers an internet site that calculates when people will die by analysing their personal details. Despite Roy's refusal to partake, Moss discovers that Roy will die on Thursday at 3pm. Denholm, threatened by the Police who want to investigate "financial irregularities" in the business's accounts, commits suicide during a meeting, and his funeral is set for the same time. Roy buys a new mobile phone with lots of features but, finding himself disappointed by the weak vibrate setting, he allows Moss to "pimp your phone, girlfriend". Having set the vibrate function to the highest setting, the phone mistakenly goes off during Denholm's funeral and to make matters worse, Roy mistakes it for his impending death and reacts accordingly; he screams and swears. Before the funeral, Denholm's successor announces his plan to fire the entire IT Department because he despises them, but he finds himself fired when Denholm's son Douglas (Matt Berry) – his rightful successor – storms the funeral and takes over Reynholm Industries. Roy and Moss give Douglas the now unwanted mobile phone, and having felt the vibrate function go off in his trousers, he declares it takes him "almost to the station", giving a hint of things to come. | |||||
| 9 | 3 | "Moss and the German" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 7 September 2007 |
| Worried that his life is stagnating, Moss enrolls in a German cookery course. However, it turns out that the advert contained important translation errors, and the German is actually a cannibal who is seeking someone willing to be eaten (a parody of the Armin Meiwes incident). Meanwhile, despite some exaggerated attempts to stop him, Roy is trying to watch a pirated DVD from South Korea, and after his failed attempts, Roy deceptively volunteers to be the German cannibal's next meal so that he can watch the film on the German cannibal's impressive home entertainment system. However, when the police raid the house, it seems that the German's plan is not what the police are interested in. Elsewhere, Jen, who recently started smoking again, finds the only place in the building where she can now enjoy a cigarette, which is not unlike Soviet Russia (a parody of bleak and melodramatic Dr. Zhivago-style films). The Korean movie with the title '새벽의 황당한 저주' is in fact 'Shaun of the Dead'. | |||||
| 10 | 4 | "The Dinner Party" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 14 September 2007 |
| Jen has finally found love with her new boyfriend, Peter File. To celebrate their happiness, they host a dinner party for six of their single friends. Their joy turns to disappointment when all of the men are unable to come, so Jen invites Roy, Moss and Richmond to take their places. The tension is already high before their arrival as Roy and Moss continue to mock Jen's boyfriend's name, which has a canny likeness to the word pedophile. On arrival at the house, Jen drills the three of them on how to act normal, and for a while things seem to go well. Moss pairs up with the first of the three single friends, and the two of them inadvertently start acting as if they are married. Richmond unexpectedly hits it off with the second of Jen's friends, and things go far between them. Roy however is left with what he believes is the "dud card", a woman who was recently in an accident, and whose face is adorned with bandages. However, when he learns she was once a model, his interest is piqued – but due to her face being obscured by the bandages he cannot determine whether or not she is still as beautiful as she used to be, which influences his final decision about whether to ask her out. | |||||
| 11 | 5 | "Smoke and Mirrors" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 21 September 2007 |
| Roy comes back from a stag night wearing lipstick; he passed out and the other men decided to put makeup on him as a prank. Jen loses concentration during an important meeting after wearing a "bad bra" to work. As a result, Moss gets over his usual sensitivity to ladies undergarments and with the help of his mother's underwear drawer, designs the ultimate bra. Naming it the "Abracadabra" and fearing retribution from established bra companies, Moss adopts a pseudonym he has trouble remembering. As the design goes forward, both Jen and Roy help prepare him to pitch his invention on well-known TV series Dragons' Den, in exchange for a return of the eventual profits. However things start to go down the drain on arrival at the television studio – while waiting to do a TV interview, Moss confuses his pseudonym with the name of a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence, and ends up on a television news interview discussing the Iraq war (a parody of the Guy Kewney / Guy Goma mixup). Things go from bad to worse for both Jen and Moss when he fails to rid the bra of its Achilles heel – randomly catching fire. | |||||
| 12 | 6 | "Men Without Women" "The Joy of Sex" |
Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 28 September 2007 |
| Douglas travels far and wide in his quest to bed Jen and is given a love potion by a mysterious blind Irish sorcerer. On his return to Reynholm Industries, and following a lengthy campaign of pointless phone calls to the basement, Douglas offers Jen a position as his Personal Assistant. Having realised she's wasting her life in the position she's in she accepts, but this leaves Moss and Roy free to wreak havoc in the basement as they engage in a day of not wearing trousers and playing a form of golf where Roy tries to pot a ball in Moss's mouth. However this soon wears thin, and as Douglas continues his efforts to bed Jen, he resorts to the sorcerer's potion, which turns out to be Rohypnol. Roy and Moss eventually rescue Jen from Douglas's sexual advances, but soon find themselves threatened by him; she locks them both in with him and pandemonium ensues. | |||||
| Overall No. | Series No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 1 | "From Hell" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 21 November 2008 |
| Roy goes to Jen's house to retrieve £5. While there, he recognises Jen's builder as a "Builder From Hell". Convinced that he will urinate in her sink, Jen sets out to keep an eye on him. Moss is harassed by a group of teenagers, and Roy tries to teach him how to stand up to them. Douglas, oblivious to the fact he is ruining Reynholm Industries after spending the pension fund on erotic art and gold flakes in the water supply, finds a service revolver and a note from his father telling him to shoot himself if he is too overworked. Jen continues to disrupt the builder, convinced that he has ideas that do not include renovating her house, and installs a CCTV system to monitor his movements. Douglas, playing with the gun, shoots himself in the thigh, and after summoning help from Moss, tells him to contact the emergency services. Moss, however, takes the gun, and uses it to threaten the teenagers, leaving Douglas to his own devices. Still struggling from his wound, Douglas heads into an important meeting with a Japanese investor via video link. Jen finally spots the builder doing the deed in her sink, but when she tries to record the incident, swaps the live video feed with that of the Japanese investor, throwing the meeting into chaos. | |||||
| 14 | 2 | "Are We Not Men?" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 28 November 2008 |
| Roy is puzzled that Moss seems to have mastered cockney football-speak. Moss reveals that it is all done with the help of football translation website 'bluffball.co.uk', and the pair try to pass as "proper" men for a couple of days. Having broken the language barrier and passing as knowledgeable football fans, Moss and Roy easily make friends; however, the friendship goes too far when Roy unsuspectingly helps them commit a robbery, making things worse by phoning the police when he does not realise that it is indeed his friends engaged in the misdemeanour. Roy is forced to evade the police, and is heartbroken; they hide inside a very dark truck. Once they have gone past, Roy starts sobbing uncontrollably, and utters the catchphrase "Did you see that ludicrous display last night?". Later, Roy is hanging out with his new friends and tries to leave, but Moss reveals that Roy indeed rang the police. The pair escape just as the robbers get angry and the police arrive, but believing they may appear suspicious, Moss kisses Roy against a garage door (several times) to avoid attention from the passing police. Elsewhere, having listened to earlier comments from Roy and Moss, Jen is having trouble dating a man who looks and acts like a stage magician. During the credits, it goes back to the scene in the truck: Roy has stopped crying, but he's still very nervous, and is talking random parts of conversation. Finally he wonders who shut the door. | |||||
| 15 | 3 | "Tramps Like Us" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 5 December 2008 |
| Jen, Moss and Roy find their lives moving in different directions after a highly disappointing settlement to a sexual harassment lawsuit. Moss suffers a concussion and forgets everything he knows about computers. Jen is interviewed for a new job, but having seemingly enjoyed the perfect interview, finds herself tongue-tied when asked what IT stands for. Having learned that "courage" is not a valid answer, she phones Moss, who appears useless after his concussion and fails to provide an answer. Meanwhile, Roy has been thrown out on the street after being spotted shirtless in the office. The poor man has been forced to find a dirty shirt and jacket. Without his doorpass, he finds himself sleeping homeless (well, officeless) with a small dog for company. Eventually Jen finds him curled up under a cardboard box; he greets her in tears, and the two head to the office. Douglas, having had enough of his electric sex pants (which release an electric charge when he becomes aroused), orders Moss to release him from his shackles, and when he is given a large electric shock, Moss's concussion is reversed. As the three are reunited, Jen turns down the new job for "personal reasons", as she realises Moss and Roy cannot cope without her. During the credits, Roy is asking the old woman who borrowed his jacket for his jacket back. She won't give it back, so he tackles her until the security guards arrive. | |||||
| 16 | 4 | "The Speech" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 12 December 2008 |
| After winning Employee of the Month, Jen finds herself less than inspired to write the required acceptance speech, and becoming arrogant from her victory, asserts her power in the IT Department. When she eventually turns to Roy and Moss for help, they see an opportunity to humiliate her in front of the whole department when they lend her a visual aid, on loan from the top of Big Ben and completely demagnetised by Stephen Hawking himself – "The Internet". The duo tell Jen that the Internet, complete with small black box, is completely wireless, and that if the red light on the top of the box stops flashing, the Internet will be destroyed. Douglas finds the love of his life in the form of April. However, problems inevitably follow when he mishears her making a tearful confession that she "used to be a man" (as opposed to Douglas hearing her say she was "from Iran"). Taking a seat to see Jen's destruction, Moss and Roy find their prank has backfired when the shareholders hang on Jen's every word about the destruction of the Internet. Meanwhile, a fist fight has begun between April and Douglas, resulting in the destruction of "The Internet". The panic that ensues among the shareholders finally gives Roy and Moss the spectacle they craved. | |||||
| 17 | 5 | "Friendface" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 19 December 2008 |
| A new social networking site known as Friendface opens, and Jen inevitably persuades Roy and Moss to become members. The initial interest becomes an obsession when Jen is invited online to a high school reunion and, fearing that she will face ridicule for not being married, she asks Roy to pose as her husband so she can "big herself up". Roy, however, has already arranged to meet his old girlfriend, so Jen is left with Moss to fill in. At the party, Moss asserts his masculinity in front of Jen's old school friends, and things appear to be going well. Things are not going so well, however, for Roy, who is having difficulty telling his ex that he is no longer attracted to her. When he eventually tells her, her tears make her makeup appear like that of The Joker, and, remembering Jen's earlier offer, he tells his ex that he is already in a happy relationship. The two set off to Jen's reunion, and upon his arrival Roy's assertion that he and Jen are in love is shot down by Moss. After Moss delivers a stinging slap to Roy for "sassing his woman", the two step outside, and after a brief delay, run away from their problems, leaving Jen to fend for herself. | |||||
| 18 | 6 | "Calendar Geeks" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 26 December 2008 |
| Roy finds himself in heaven when the girls from the seventh floor decide to make a nude calendar as a fundraiser for the "victims of boss-eyed-ness". Things don't seem to be able to go any better when Roy is offered the job of photographer, but offended by the idea, Jen complains and persuades the girls to do a calendar of elderly women instead. Jen's complaints backfire when Douglas makes her personally responsible for making at least a million pounds from the calendar, and as the seventh floor girls have already been dissuaded from the idea by Jen's philosophy, the only option is for Roy to trick his geeky friends into performing "sexy" poses. | |||||
Series 4 was recorded at Pinewood Studios in the spring of 2010.[13][14]
| Overall No. | Series No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | 1 | "Jen the Fredo" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 25 June 2010 |
| Jen wants to stretch herself in the workplace, so she applies for the post of Entertainment Manager. But when she finds out that amusing her boss Douglas' business connections has its darker side, she turns to Moss and Roy for help, but Roy just laughs and relates Jen to Fredo from The Godfather. Douglas is given an award from the feminist committee, which turns out to be the "Shithead of the Year" award. Jen has trouble with her new job as she finds Phil, John, and John rather difficult to please, especially after a disappointing visit to a show. Meanwhile, a heartbroken Roy is having trouble coping with the breakup from his girlfriend. Moss has been making his own Dungeons and Dragons game and eventually gets John, John, Roy, and Phil to play, which finally entertains the business connections and helps Roy relieve his depression. Douglas realises that Jen nominated him for the "Shithead of the Year" award. When Jen asks Roy what happened to Fredo in the film, Roy says that the Godfather had him killed. Douglas throws the "Shithead" award out of the window, and it hits a car near Jen. Jen mistakes this as Douglas trying to murder her and runs off screaming. | |||||
| 20 | 2 | "The Final Countdown" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 2 July 2010 |
| Moss appears on the popular quiz show Countdown and beats all previously set records, which leads to an invitation to the "8+ Club", an exclusive club for exceptional former Countdown contestants. When he arrives at the 8+ club, he is nicknamed "Word" and becomes friends with "Prime". The club is full of nerd-like men and hot girls. The girls seem attracted to Moss at Roy's amazement. However, the jealous ex-champion "Negative One" confronts and challenges Moss to Street Countdown, which is (as Prime explains) like Countdown but on the street. Moss eventually wins the challenge. Roy is repeatedly mistaken for a window cleaner by a successful old friend from college, and Roy desperately tries to set him right. Jen is suspicious of Douglas' secretive manager's meetings, in which all attendants arrive wearing white robes. Deciding to infiltrate the meetings, she is confronted with a surprising scenario: Douglas is doing fitness classes for the attendants. Roy is eventually able to phone up his old friend and tells him that he isn't a window cleaner but works in IT. When asked if he works with Macs, Roy replies that he really just works with Windows. | |||||
| 21 | 3 | "Something Happened" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 9 July 2010 |
| Roy hurts his back during a concert and sees a masseur, but the visit takes an unexpected turn when the masseur kisses him "on the arse". Meanwhile, Douglas becomes a "Spaceologist" and tries to persuade his employees to follow in his footsteps. Jen gets involved with a rock band and falls in love with the emotionally dull and weird keyboard player from the band Sweet Billy Pilgrim. Douglas, as a "Spaceologist", makes wishes to the stars: the first wish is to get a helicopter (he ends up buying himself a helicopter), the next wish is to learn how to do tattoos (he buys a book called "Make your own tattoo" and gives himself a tattoo of a helicopter), and the last wish was to have a metal hand (his tattoo became infected, and when he had to have his hand cut off, he then got a metal hand with fake skin and put it on his stump). Roy takes the masseur to court, and succeeds in having him confined. When Norman is kicked out of the band, Jen loses all interest in him. In the end, Douglas practices with his metal hand by smashing up his office. Moss says that when he gets a metal hand, he'd only use it for good and then he storms off. | |||||
| 22 | 4 | "Italian for Beginners" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 16 July 2010 |
| When Roy's latest girlfriend explains her sad family history, Roy learns that her parents died in a fire at a "Sea Parks" stadium during a sea lion show. He is confused by this story, and when he looks for more information on the Internet, he discovers that the stadium is full of water and has 12 exits. Moss realises how much quicker he could answer his phone if he kept it in his shirt pocket, but when he bends over to flush a toilet, his phone drops in. When co-worker Linda is labelled Best Woman, Jen becomes jealous and tells a lie that she can speak Italian, which causes calamity when she is nominated to act as translator for a top Italian businessman, Bernatelli. Moss helps her by installing a voice-activated translator on her computer. After Moss sees an iPhone in a toy crane machine, Moss desperately attempts to retrieve it, but he ends up trapped inside. Moss enlists Jen's help to get the iPhone out of the machine, and then he delightfully obtains it "without paying Apple any money". When Jen arrives at the live meeting with Bernatelli, she is terrified at the fact that she isn't allowed to use her computer, and without her computer, she cannot use the translator. Eventually, after Jen tries to communicate but poorly translates the meeting into gibberish, Bernatelli storms out in disgust. Meanwhile, Roy becomes obsessed and frantically seeks an explanation for how his girlfriend's parents died in the fire. Roy makes many models of "Sea Parks", and for his last model, he sets it on fire and finally sees how someone could die in a fire at the stadium. However, when the fire grows too large, Roy burns his hands during the process. At midnight, Jen wakes up in her sleep, suddenly realising that Moss is still trapped in the toy crane machine. | |||||
| 23 | 5 | "Bad Boys" | Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 23 July 2010 |
| Before heading out for lunch with Moss, Roy makes a bet with Jen that he can go an entire day without saying "Have you tried turning it off and on again?", a phrase with which he routinely begins his support telephone calls. Roy and Moss decide to have lunch in the park but get delayed on their way back to work owing to a mysterious package on the street, which is believed to be a bomb, so they decide to bunk off work and go to a shopping centre. While in a store, Moss becomes overexcited at the prospect of being a delinquent for a day, and he steals several Grand Designs DVDs before leaving. Meanwhile, Jen is left alone to represent the IT department at a "work thing", in which Douglas originally praises colleague Ben Genderson, then revokes his praise of Genderson and praises the IT department; finally he declares that this redundancy exercise was a double bluff and re-praises Genderson. Ben Genderson, who is head of hiring and firing, has learned about his colleagues' secrets during the party and warns Jen that, if she can't pass a simple computer quiz, she will be fired. On their return to work, Roy and Moss become caught in the middle of the bomb scare from the earlier delay, rendering Roy motionless with fright and allowing Moss to get arrested for his earlier mischief. It turns out that the bomb disposal robot wasn't working, and when the stationary Roy suggests turning it off and back on again, Jen delightedly declares that she has won the bet. It is revealed in an epilogue paragraph that: Moss was released from prison after he did three hours of community service and was banned from watching Grand Designs ever again; Douglas was watching the bomb scare, and in the excitement, he forgot to fire anyone; and the mysterious package didn't contain a bomb after all but did contain a child's balloon that popped and gave Roy a little fright. | |||||
| 24 | 6 | "Reynholm vs. Reynholm" "Douglas and Divorce[15]" |
Graham Linehan | Graham Linehan | 30 July 2010 |
| Douglas's second wife Victoria, who disappeared after two weeks of marriage, returns. When he decides to divorce her, she asks for enough money to bankrupt him and Reynholm Industries. Douglas hires Jen instead of a lawyer because her job title is "relationship manager", and instead of preparing the case, he spends his time sewing a farcical suit to wear in court. Jen aims to protect Douglas with witness statements from Roy, Moss, and Richmond. Roy and Moss are both useless in the witness box due to traumatic legal experiences of their own: Roy in the masseur case in episode 3 of this series and Moss sued by his mother as an 11-year old. Meanwhile, Richmond, now blonde and well-groomed again, makes an unrelated presentation about "Goth2Boss", a business he has started to help fellow Goths abandon their lifestyle. Afterwards, Richmond mistakes Douglas's wife for one of his pupils but immediately corrects his mistake. Douglas's wife shows the court an excerpt from a Star Trek-themed sex tape Douglas had made to illustrate how irresponsibly he spends his money. Douglas unsuccessfully fakes a heart attack but is saved by Jen who gives a speech and asks the court to pity the workers at Reynholm Industries. Victoria agrees to curb her demands. The episode features several scenes set at The Flappy Duck restaurant, a parody of The Fat Duck, where the food includes edible alarm clocks and invisible desserts and the wine has the appearance of milk. | |||||
Graham Linehan had originally confirmed that there would be a series 5 and a possible special to end the series.
In October 2011 however, he stated that there will not be a fifth series - just a one off special in 2012.[16]