Graham Linehan on The IT Crowd

The IT Crowd’s creator Graham Linehan talks us through the show’s finale

“There was originally an idea to do a whole new series, but I’d already done four seasons, so I was a bit exhausted. The IT Crowd has been a wonderful experience, but it’s really taken it out of me, and I thought, ‘I don’t have enough good ideas for a whole series, but I might have enough for a one-off special.’ So, this final episode is basically an attempt to wrap things up in a way that doesn’t make people want to burn down my house.

“Fans were suggesting all sorts of things they wanted to see. I’d get, ‘Do a Die Hard episode!’, which I might have done, if It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia hadn’t already done it. What I like is giving people something they don’t know they want. If they say, ‘Do a Die Hard episode’, my instinct is to do a Driving Miss Daisy episode instead.

“Broadly, this final episode is about what happens when the internet turns on people. You’ve got Twitter mobs, people being turned into memes. I find the idea of someone becoming the focus of a lot of online hate very interesting. Roy [Chris O’Dowd]’s story is partially to do with a lady. The idea was that he’s lost the ability to understand feelings. He’s spent so long down in the basement with Moss [Richard Ayoade] that he’s become emotionally colour-blind. Douglas [Matt Berry] lets Moss in on the secret that all successful men share – which is one of my favourite bits of the episode. Moss uses this secret and it sort of gives him superpowers. Douglas also goes on a TV show that I’m not sure even exists any more – The Secret Millionaire.

“It wasn’t emotional when we finished filming. I think everyone was quite happy. It was, ‘Thank f*ck we don’t have to do that again!’ [Laughs] It was very satisfying at the end, because we wanted an episode that brought closure to the whole show, and we’ve achieved that. The characters in The IT Crowd started at the bottom, and it wouldn’t have been interesting to leave them on the bottom at the end. That’s all I’ll say.”

The IT Crowd: The Final Episode is on Channel 4, 27 Sept at 9pm

(Images: Channel 4/Hal Shinnie/Rex)