Chez Skuds the jury is still out on The IT Crowd. Its yet another case of having to readjust expectations or perspective I think. Despite the title and the publicity, The IT Crowd is not really about the IT industry any more than Black Books is about bookselling or Father Ted is about religion: the IT department is just a hook on which to hang some surreal humour.

As an erstwhile IT worker myself I am obviously disappointed to not find something which mercilessly and accurately satirises IT workers, but once I accepted that the emphasis of the programme is elsewhere I got on with it better. First episodes of a sitcom are always difficult anyway. Our enjoyment of the comedy relies on us taking the situation for granted and the first episode is spent working out what the situation is, in terms of characters and foibles of the main characters and the relationships between them.

I think it is worth giving it time to settle in, even if only for those moments of inspired surreality. You can certainly see the similarity with Black Books and Father Ted where apparent normality is frequently punctured by a well-placed bizarre occurance – remember the fly in Black Books which opened the door to get out of the shop? The crows stealing Father Jack’s glasses? Add to that Jen’s mangled toes in the IT Crowd.

Now I think about it, and remember all the incidents – the wrong Amsterdam story, the stress expert getting stressed, the realistic flame screensaver, the made in Britain stickers, and every scene Chris Morris was in – I reckon this is going to be a grower and I’ll enjoy episodes 1 and 2 more and more with repeated viewing.

One thing I did notice is that Graham Linehan is at his best writing for a core cast of three. Co-incidence or a developing formula?