2006 - 2009
British Comedy
Fremantle Media
Hopscotch Entertainment and
Roadshow Entertainment
R4 DVD
Reviewer:
Bob Estreich
From
the British Thames TV we have this lively little comedy about the goings-on in
the computer Help Desk department of a large firm. Unlike the darker new wave
of comedy we have been reviewing lately from Britain, this show is standard
comedy, funny verging of farcical. Written by Graham Linehan and Ben Fuller, it
owes more to the classic demented Monty Python style than to black comedy. The
couple also wrote Black Books and Dead Ringers, so if you are familiar with
these you immediately recognize the style.
Moss
(Richard Ayoade) is the technical genius / geek with a phobia for spiders and
the social skills of a housebrick. He is also accident prone and seems to be on
another planet most of the time. Even when he sets the department on fire he
can only contact the Fire Brigade via email. Naturally he lives at home with
his mother.
Roy
(Chris O”Dowd) is a lazy Irish slob, irreverent and untidy, who goes to
remarkable lengths to avoid work. His character seems to be a continuation of
the infamous Bernard Black of Black Books. Roy not only has no social skills,
he is rude as well. He even has his standard responses to IT problems on a tape
recorder to avoid having to speak to real people. (“Have you tried turning it
off and turning it on again?” or “Is it definitely plugged in?”) Sadly, these
responses do indeed fix most of the IT problems. This doesn’t say much for the
rest of the office staff.
The
IT section is located in a basement room filled with junk, broken computers and
Roy’s leftover meals. It is managed by Jen (Katherine Parkinson) who got the job on the strength of a good
(but totally false) resume despite having no IT skills at all. She sees herself
as a People Person, something the IT section desperately needs, so she has
reclassified herself to Relationship Manager between IT and the rest of the
company. Roy and Moss are aware she has no IT skills but cover for her because
the company owner Denholm Raynholm ( Chris Morris) will sack anyone who is not
a “team player” – they must become a
team or else. Jen is dreadfully insecure at work but give her a shop full of
shoes and she can be as ruthless as needed.
It
is inevitable that their personal lives and their work lives will mingle and
this is where some of the funniest situations appear. Nothing is private within
the office building. The show is full of in IT jokes and personality
stereotypes and it manages to be funny without being smutty. These days that is
quite an achievement.
In
the three-season life of the show many well-known actors have come and gone,
such as Matt Berry (from the dark comedy Snuffbox). A fourth series is
currently proposed, showing how popular this style of humour still is. The
three present series have been shown in many countries so there are still
plenty of fans of this earlier style of humour worldwide.
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This review will appear in Volume 2 No.6 (2009) of the digital and
print edition of Synergy Magazine.
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