The IT Crowd was once a beloved British comedy, so how did a single episode mark the beginning of the end for the hit series?. "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" has become a frequent quote for fans of UK sitcom The IT Crowd, and its cast of quirky characters instantly charmed audiences with their nerdy hijinks. The show pulled in millions of viewers from around the world, yet it only lasted for four seasons despite viewer demand.
However, The IT Crowd's legacy has been tarnished due to season 3, episode 4's "The Speech," where company boss Douglas Reynholm (Matt Berry) began dating April Shepherd (Lucy Montgomery), a journalist doing an article on him. The two hit it off wonderfully after Douglas brushes it off when (he believes) that April tells him she "used to be from Iran." When Douglas later discovers April is a trans woman and that she had been trying to say she "used to be a man," the episode ends in violence as an angry Douglas engages in a physical altercation with April.
Throughout the episode, various gags poke fun at trans women and undermine their identity. A musical montage shows April and Douglas doing various "masculine" activities, such as drinking beer or watching sports, which was meant to make a joke about April being a "typical man" on the inside. While some viewers tried to ignore the dark undercurrent of this episode in light of the main plot - where Roy (Chris O' Dowd) and Moss (Richard Ayoade, The Mandalorian) convince Jen (Katherine Parkinson) the "elders of the internet" had allowed her to borrow the box containing the internet for her Employee of the Month speech - it ultimately became a controversial episode.
With a growing trend of violence against trans women, audiences started to speak out against the episode which trivializes the issue for cheap laughs. Channel 4 decided to pull this IT Crowd episode from their streaming service in 2020 after numerous complaints about the blatant transphobia it displayed. Creator Graham Linehan was furious about this, publishing on his blog the decision infringed upon his freedom of speech. He also vowed to never work with Channel 4 again until it was reinstated.
Linehan, who also created Father Ted, has a history of anti-trans views and his Twitter account was permanently suspended in June 2020 for his frequent anti-trans remarks. Linehan has stated he does not believe trans women are women and that transgender rights oppress women. With all of this coming to light, his attitude towards the series' only trans character was no surprise.
The IT Crowd came to an end the season after the controversial episode, and Linehan said he was no longer excited to work on the project as he once had. There have been various attempts at American reboots but so far, none have made it to the screen. While some fans look back fondly on the show's best episodes, the ugly transphobia at the heart of "The Speech" has tainted its legacy in the eyes of many.
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