THE IT CROWD's logging off

Graham Linehan has confirmed during an interview for reddit.com that The IT Crowd won't return for a fifth series, but will wrap-up with an extended special in 2012. This news isn't too unexpected, given how the careers of Chris O'Dowd and Richard Ayoade have started to soar just lately. O'Dowd starred in box-office smash Bridesmaids and looks to be starting a US movie career in the Judd Apatow clique; and Ayoade's success behind the camera, directing Submarine, looks to be leading to bigger film projects.

But it looks like the biggest reason was how Linehan just wasn't feeling it...

"Chief reason was the fact that I just wasn't looking forward to it the way I used to. I felt that the last series was a nice strong point to go out on, and anything further might just be running on the spot. You don't do your best work when you're running on the spot.

It feels like a natural time to wind things down. Apart from anything else, we're probably reaching that stage where it begins to feel odd that Roy, Jen and Moss are still stuck down in that basement. I don't want to start giving everybody babies to make it feel like they're moving on with their lives. My kind of comedy has always been setpiece-driven... and maybe that kind of thing has a naturally short life. I did three series of Father Ted, one of Black Books, one of Big Train, so I feel a personal sense of achievement that IT Crowd made it to series 4, especially as it gave me two of my favourite episodes, "Jen The Fredo" & "Final Countdown".

There just wasn't much in my idea file that topped those episodes, and I like to go into a series feeling I have some big moments lined up."

Fans should be grateful the gang will at least return for one final hurrah, before calling it a day. Speaking from a quality perspective, this is probably for the best, because I think The IT Crowd peaked in series 2. What do you think?