Cast: Chris O'Dowd (Roy), Richard Ayoade (Moss), Katherine Parkinson (Jen), Noel Fielding (Richmond), Catherine Shepherd (Jessica), Dolly Wells (Paula),
Jen organizes a dinner party for her friends, but is forced to invite Roy, Moss and Richmond when three drop out…Jen (Katherine Parkinson) is clearly the only sane character in The IT Crowd and episode 4's The Dinner Party finds her trying to balance the normality of her private life, with her extraordinary working life.
Unfortunately, as a premise it doesn't work, because Jen's home life isn't that normal – well, if her circle of friends are anything to go by! Things get underway when Jen, trying to impress new boyfriend Peter, organizes a swish dinner party at her home…
Having invited several friends, three drop out at the last minute, meaning Roy (Chris O'Dowd), Moss (Richard Ayoade) and creepy goth Richmond (Noel Fielding) have to fill their empty seats. Remember episode 1's The Work Outing? It's essentially the same plot, but swap "theatre" for "dinner party".
At Jen's home, a ragtag group of fruitcakes descend on her "Abigail's Party": Paula (Dolly Wells), a beautiful model who was involved in a car accident, annoyingly-ironic Jessica (Catherine Shepherd), and bitter alcoholic Margaret.
The expected clash between Jen's work friends and social friends doesn't work, as everyone is just as bonkers as each other – meaning Jen just sits amongst the ensuing craziness, trying to deflect Peter's attention from everything.
Roy is unsure about whether to make a move on Paula (who could be Elle Macpherson or Elephant Man beneath her bandages), Moss begins to inexplicably act like one-half of a bickering married couple with Margaret, and Richmond's creepy chat-up line works a treat on Jessica!
There's business with a game of Pictionary between some social faux pas, eventually leading to Roy's decision to "gamble" on Paula's post-crash facial features -- particularly when he sees she lives in luxury apartment equipped with giant TV and games consoles…
Meanwhile, after struggling through the evening, the final straw comes for Jen when she discovers her date's full name is Peter File (say it quickly), and has an unfortunate moment with him involving an airport tannoy.
The Dinner Party is enjoyable, although Jen's fears don't make much sense given the "normality" of her friends! Forgiving that slip in the premise, I don’t think enough humour was squeezed from the idea, while Moss and Richmond's subplots were very disappointing. Moss basically fades into the background once the party started and Richmond vanishes upstairs to shag Jessica mid-way through!
Roy was the only character that got a decent plot to work with, although the twist that ends his romantic aspiration for Paula was too obvious to be funny. Predictability is a common problem with The IT Crowd's brand of jokes, with punchlines eliciting no surprise on many occasions.
The guest stars are all good in their small roles, but Catherine Shepherd really steals the show as giggling annoyance Jessica. In fact, she was so good I hope Jessica returns as a semi-regular; particularly because Noel Fielding's Richmond just bores me now. So, back to the cupboard for Richmond, and bring in Jessica as the company's receptionist, I say!
Overall, The Dinner Party is amusing throughout, but nothing particularly memorable happened. If it wasn’t for Shepherd's scene-stealing performance, a huge chunk of this episode would have been laughter-free.
14 September 2007
Channel 4, 10.00 pm
