Can you believe it’s now been ten years since The IT Crowd first appeared on our TV screens?
The award-winning Channel 4 sitcom aired for four seasons from 2006 to 2010, ending with a special episode in 2013.
> Buy the complete Season 1-4 box set on Amazon.
A whole decade after Jen first ventured down to the basement of Reynholm Industries, let’s take a look at what the talented cast of The IT Crowd are doing now…
Richard Ayoade
When he was cast as geeky computer whiz Maurice Moss, Richard Ayoade had experience both in front of and behind the camera in comedy, having directed and acted in Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace and AD/BC: A Rock Opera. During his time on The IT Crowd, he began directing music videos for bands such as The Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian and Vampire Weekend, and won an NME award for directing The Arctic Monkeys: At The Apollo.
After The IT Crowd’s fourth season, Ayoade released his first feature film Submarine, a coming-of-age comedy-drama which he wrote and directed. Following this, he wrote and directed The Double, a black comedy thriller starring Jesse Eisenberg. Both films received critical acclaim. Ayoade is a film buff and in 2014 wrote Ayoade on Ayoade: A Cinematic Odyssey, a satire of books which explore the careers of celebrated directors.
Ayoade isn’t just behind the camera these days. He makes regular appearances on panel shows such as The Big Fat Quiz, guest stars on Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy and hosts Gadget Man and Travel Man on Channel 4. He has also done some work in the USA, having appeared in comedy film The Watch and directed an episode of Community.
Chris O’Dowd
Since being cast as the socially inept Roy Trenneman on The IT Crowd, Chris O’Dowd has become a familiar face both on TV and in film. He has had leading roles in BBC drama series The Crimson Petal and the White and documentary-style comedy Family Tree, as well as a guest part in American comedy-drama Girls. In 2012, he created the Sky1 comedy Moone Boy, which has so far run for three seasons.
O’Dowd has built a successful film career, with credits including The Boat That Rocked, Cuban Fury, This Is 40 and St. Vincent. Two of his most pivotal roles were in American comedy Bridesmaids as the love interest of Kristin Wiig’s protagonist, and in Australian musical film The Sapphires, for which he won an AACTA award (the Australian equivalent of a BAFTA). He had a small role in Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World and also a cameo in his The IT Crowd co-star Richard Ayoade’s The Double.
In 2014, O’Dowd made his Broadway debut in a production of Of Mice and Men, alongside James Franco.
Katherine Parkinson
Since she began playing technically-challenged head of IT Jen Barber in The IT Crowd, Katherine Parkinson has had leading roles in several other comedy shows, including The Great Outdoors, The Old Guys, Whites and Bleak Old Shop Of Stuff. She also starred in the very first episode of the BBC’s dark comedy anthology series Inside No.9.
Over the last two years or so, Parkinson has been taking on more dramatic television roles, such as in political spy thriller The Honourable Woman and BBC drama series In The Club. She was most recently seen starring in 1970s-set comedy The Kennedys and in British-American sci-fi series Humans, which will soon be returning for a second season.
Parkinson has also done a lot of work on radio and on stage; however, her face is most recognisable to some people because of her appearances in TV adverts for Maltesers and Kit-Kat!
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