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Transmitted:	Feb 2006 - Present
Country of origin:	UK
Genre:	Office based comedy, Alternative comedy, Cult status
Starring:	Chris O'Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson, Matt Berry, Chris Morris
Rating:	5/5
No. of seasons:	4 and counting

A sitcom set in an I.T. office, with old fashioned sensibilities in terms of production (shot on video, laugh track etc.) with a minimal cast and tiny budget.
Sounds shit, right?
Wrong.
Reynholm Industries is a technology company, though quite what it does is something of an enigma, in the basement of which is housed the I.T. department. Two guys inhabit the office, happy to tend to the mundane I.T. needs of the denizens that work above them. Their world is turned upside down, however, when their boss, Denholm (played with some style by the mighty Chris Morris) decides that the department needs a shake up and employs a new person. Worse, a new management person. Even worse still, a female management type person who knows absolutely squat about computers.
With hilarious consequen... etc. etc.
The set up is simple enough, but what gives this show such appeal is both the quality of the writing and the genuine sense of chemistry between the lead protagonists.
Roy, played fairly straight by O'Dowd is a schlubby, lazy, unkempt individual who simply wants the quiet life, more than satisfied with simply sitting in the basement playing Quake.
Moss, Ayoade's character, is equally keen for solitude, though his is a more nervous character, always tense with clear shades of obsessive compulsive disorder as well as a complete absence of any social skills at all.
Jen, the new I.T. manager is ballsy, ambitious, but completely out of her depth in the new environment she finds herself in.
Writer Graham 'Father Ted, Black Books' Linehan's gift for seeing the absurd in the most mundane of situations sparkles at times, the scripts well polished and with more than the average laugh count for sitcom fodder. Indeed, this is highly quotable stuff, if you happen to lean that way. (I don't. I'm a grown man).
Something of a sleeper hit this one, it has become more successful as a DVD release than a TV experience in its own right but, either way, it's still going strong and a fourth series has already been given the green light by Channel 4.
Perhaps only the geeks amongst you will get into this one so, if you are happy to be considered as such, this is well worth a look.

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