Characters / The IT Crowd

Main Characters

Jen Barber

Ich. Bin. Ein. Nerd.

Portrayed by: Katherine Parkinson

Reynholm Indutries' IT Department's "Relationship Manager". An ambitious career woman whose dreams of climbing the corporate ladder are always foiled by either her co-workers' antics, her tendency to compulsively lie about her abilities, or her complete lack of understanding of anything relating to computers.

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• Accent On The Wrong Syllable: The way she says "COMputer".
• Acquired Situational Narcissism: When she thinks she's won Employee of the Month and it turns out, everyone just thinks she's dead. Happens again when she actually wins Employee of the Month.
• All Women Love Shoes: Jen loves shoes so much that it's literally all she can say when she sees a pair that she wants until she can get her hands on them.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Has some of this going on with Roy, mostly in series 1.
• Birds of a Feather: Beneath her delusions of being a promising young up-and-comer, Jen is actually quite similar to Roy in terms of personality and temperament. The two of them get along very well as a result, and occasionally have minor Ship Teases with each other.
• Blatant Lies: Her Establishing Character Moment has her bluffing her way through a job interview with Denholm by stating that she's good with computers. Despite her claim, she can't even pronounce the word "computer" right.
• Butt-Monkey: Not nearly to the same degree as Roy, but Jen tends to find herself publically humiliated and prevented from moving up in the corporate world at least Once an Episode.
• Catchphrase:
  • "TAXI!" (Screw This, I'm Outta Here)
  • "How DARE you!" is also quite a common phrase for her.
• Cloud Cuckoolanders Minder: For Moss, Roy and Richmond.
• Comic Trio: Alternates between being the clueless leader and the ignored voice of reason.
• Consummate Liar: Jen seems to be incapable of getting into a conversation with anyone not named Moss or Roy without weaving an enormous web of lies about herself. She's generally quite good at convincing others that she's telling the truth, but almost always ends up getting exposed when she's actually forced to demonstrate whatever skill she lies about possessing.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: While Jen is able to function in social situations much better than either Moss or Roy can, she's an incredibly compulsive liar, and can rarely get through an exchange without burying herself under a mountain of lies and false promises that she has no chance of keeping. Her entire job at Reynholm Industries is the result of her lying about her skill with computers, and generally every plot that she instigates throughout the series is the result of her lying about herself in order to impress someone else.
• Dude Magnet: Has a different boyfriend almost every episode.
• The Face: She's set up as this in the beginning, anyway, but as it turns out she's almost as weird as the people she works with.
• Fatal Flaw: As detailed above, Jen is a chronic, compulsive liar and will regularly lie about her accomplishments just because she's feeling ignored or trying to feel better about herself. It never works. Jen herself acknowledges this problem:
  Jen: What don't you get about this? I lie, I lie, and I LIE! And then I lie some more!
• Female Misogynist: While Jen is a self-professed feminist, and regularly expresses disgust at Douglas' inappropriate and disrespectful behavior towards women, she tends to be very bitter and hostile towards other women whenever she's actually made to work with them, because she hates it when they get more recognition and praise than she does. Roy outright describes her as "One of those women who hates other women." She's also completely willing to compromise her beliefs if her career is on the line, such as when she backpedals on her declaration about an erotic calendar featuring female employees being sexist and exploitative after she realizes that she'll be the one who suffers if it doesn't end up selling well.
• Fiery Redhead: Very easily angered and annoyed. She goes brunette in Season 2 before switching back.
• Hidden Depths: Her office steadily becomes more and more decked out in cutesy Japanese paraphernalia as the series goes on, an interest that is otherwise not gone into.
• Informed Deformity: Occasionally stated to be quite ugly, to the point where the closeted gay man she was dating claimed to have only been dating her because she looked like a man. Needless to say Katherine Parkinson is quite attractive and Jen herself has a new date at least Once an Episode.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Not nearly as callous as Roy, but she's still an incredibly shallow person who actively seeks out flaws in other people. She does, however, grow to care lot about Roy and Moss, even turning down a prestigious job offer from another company because they can't cope without her. She also tries to help Richmond become less of a shut-in, even though Richmond is often creepy and unsettling.
• Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: Constantly, though she's just as likely to break up with perfectly nice guys over an insignificant "flaw" that they possess, such as having a full name that sounds like "pedophile" and looking like a magician.
• Nerd Nanny: She takes care of Moss and Roy. In the episode where she leaves the IT department, they start to lose it in less than a day.
• Nice Mean And In Between: The In-between. She's not as nice as Moss but a bit nicer than Roy.
• No Periods, Period: Averted. She gets one, then Moss and Roy "synchronise" with her. ...and then the rest of the world's IT workers synch in as well.
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Jen firmly believes herself to be a charismatic and driven young professional. In reality, she's generally incompetent, quite lazy, and is only charismatic in comparison to Moss and Roy, an extremely low bar.
• No Social Skills: Not quite. While she can actually function decently in social environments, pretty much every episode features her walking herself into different awkward situations due to handling them poorly.
• Only Sane Man: Comparatively at least, though her outrageous level of tech illiteracy and massive ego frequently push her out of this territory.
• Otaku Surrogate: Later on in the series after she starts to settle into the IT department, her office becomes covered in Japanese memorabilia.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Grows into this with Roy over time. While there are a few hints of romantic chemistry, nothing ever comes of it and they instead share what could be called the most normal friendship on the show.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: See Catchphrase. Her first instinct upon being publicly humiliated/outed as a liar is to call for a taxi and attempt to flee the scene.
• Selective Obliviousness: Deliberately avoids developing any further understanding about computers or the workings of the IT Department due to her belief that doing so will cause her to forget other "more important" things. When she gets into a band Moss and Roy like, she complains that she "shouldn't even know who they are!"
• Small Name, Big Ego: Convinced she's on the verge of a career breakthrough despite spending most of her time bumming around with Moss and Roy and not even knowing how to pronounce the word "computer".
• Smoking Is Cool: Averted; she is an on-off smoker and complains smoking isn't "fun" like it used to be.
• The Smurfette Principle: The only recurring female character on the show. Justified in that none of the male characters are capable of maintaining relationships and she herself is shown to seek out rivals in other women.
• Suddenly Shouting: Very prone to this.
• Team Mom: Best shown when Jen leaves to pursue another job interview, Moss gets electrocuted and concussed, while Roy becomes shirtless, homeless and forced to live in a box; all in the space of two hours!

Maurice Moss

I like being weird. Weird's all I've got. That and my sweet style.

Portrayed by: Richard Ayoade

One of Reynholm Industries' IT Department's two programmers. A socially-inept yet good-natured uber nerd and all-around weirdo who still lives with his mother. Possesses a genius intellect and creative mind that are hindered only by every other aspect of his character.

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• Alliterative Name: Maurice Moss.
• Awesome, but Impractical: The majority of his inventions are incredibly intricate and well-made yet also completely pointless, such as a step ladder for moths to get out of a bath.
• Becoming the Mask: A recurring problem of his is becoming too dedicated to the roles he has to play, such as when he pretended to be Jen's husband for a high school reunion.
• Beware the Nice Ones: His eventual response to being bullied by a group of delinquents is to chase them down waving Denholm's old revolver in the air, shouting "I've got a gun! I've got a ruddy gun!!"
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Nice though he may be, he can be incredibly mean-spirited and petty, most frequently to Richmond.
• Black and Nerdy: He even has a side-parted afro. That said, his blackness is rarely if ever referenced. Incidentally, Richard Ayoade is half Nigerian and half Norwegian.
• Brainy Brunette: Has dark, curly hair and is hands down the smartest character on the show.
• Breakout Character: Easily the most iconic character from the show.
• Character Development: Subtly done, but still there.
  • Moss begins the series completely oblivious to the fact that his relationship with his mother is seen as weird by most others. By the end of the series, he shows regular frustration with her intrusiveness and seems to want more independence away from her.
  • At first, Moss is unable to pick up the most basic social cues. Come Series 3, he is improvising a staged Cock Fight with Roy at a party.
• Cloudcuckoolander: His brain simply does not work like an ordinary person's.
• Collector of the Strange: Moss collects wires.
• Comic Trio: Generally always plays the dumb follower to either Roy or Jen, but occasionally assumes the role of ignored voice of reason when the other two become too caught up in themselves.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He's easily the most capable of the trio, though he's also generally clueless.
• Ditzy Genius: An absolute genius in practically all things technological, a complete idiot in everything else.
• Gadgeteer Genius: To an almost absurd degree.
• The Ghost: His mother is often mentioned, but never seen or even heard by the audience.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: "Mother-flippin'" seems to be reserved for when he's really mad. When Roy tries to make him to make him say a proper swear word, the worst he can manage is "ploppers".
• He Cleans Up Nicely: Even with his ridiculous hairdo, Moss is in much better shape than Roy and can generally look very good when in a nice suit, which is commented on by Jen.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Roy, who he claims to be his wife.
• Innocently Insensitive: Almost always responds to Jen's problems with blunt answers emphasizing why they're her fault while at the same time genuinely meaning to be helpful. He's like this with Roy too - when Roy's girlfriend buys him a new jacket, Moss asks him if he'll be wearing it all the time now, before declaring "it's the worst thing ever!"
• Last-Name Basis: Almost exclusively addressed as Moss rather than Maurice.
• Manchild: He is a man in his thirties who acts and speaks like a 4 year-old most of the time, doesn't swear, still lives with his mother and sobs uncontrollably when confronted by bullies half his age.
• Momma's Boy: He still lives with his mother and remains almost disturbingly close to her.
• Morality Pet: Moss is more or less the only person who Roy will consistently act kindly towards, and even that isn't guaranteed.
• My Beloved Smother: Although he later starts to express an annoyance at her constant intrusions into his life.
• Nerds Are Virgins: He faints at the mere mention of the word "bra", though he's implied to have had a steamy encounter with a beautiful woman attracted to his skill at quiz games. He also might have slept with Jen in the series one finale, but it's never made clear, and the office therapist is smitten with him.
• Nerdy Nasalness: Moss is a stereotypical nerd (socially awkward, works in IT, loves technology like robots, has almost no fashion sense). He's also very nasally.
• Nice Guy: While he lacks any sort of tact, he's a far nicer guy than either of his friends.
• Nice, Mean, and In-Between: The Nice, most of the time.
• No Social Skills: To a ridiculous degree. Roy seemed to have been the only person he spoke to besides his mother before Jen showed up.
• Suddenly Always Knew That: Occasionally displays extraordinary (like detecting any substance by smell) or out-of-character (mostly, acting cool) skills. Generally hand-waved by him having recently read up on them on a website.
• The Stoic: Beyond raising his voice, he rarely emotes, and his face almost never leaves a completely neutral expression.
• Token Good Teammate: Though he's still a huge jerk to Richmond, Moss is far nicer than either Roy or Jen.
• TV Genius: Occasionally builds outrageous inventions out of nowhere.
• Weirdness Magnet: Moss is usually a bit odd by himself and he has a habit of meeting strange people. Oftentimes, he's just too nice to say no or doesn't recognize the danger.
  • He tried a cookery course and ended up befriending a German cannibal (parodying the then-recent Armin Mewes incident).
  • He went to a dinner party, wound up with a love-starved woman, and then started treating her as his wife.
  • He tried speaking with football terminology and he befriended a gang of bank robbers. Fortunately, Moss left the bank robbers before their first heist and wasn't aware of their activities.
  • He took part in Countdown and he ended up in a secret, cult-like society that's way too dedicated to the show.

Roy Trenneman

The same reason I do everything, Jen; to have sex with a lady.

Portrayed by: Chris O'Dowd

One of Reynholm Industries' IT Department's two programmers. A bitter, slovenly and unmotivated man who devotes much more time and effort toward finding ways to avoid having to do work than he does actually doing his job. Possesses the mentality of a horny teenager, making him considerably more mature than Moss.

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• Accidental Pervert: The time he got stuck under a desk between two women. Notable in that it was one of the few times when he wasn't being a pervert intentionally.
• Allegedly Dateless: Despite his constant complaining about his romantic life, he's had plenty of girlfriends. His standards are just ridiculous.
• All Men Are Perverts: He's willing to spend all of his time with truly despicable and repulsive women so long as he gets to have sex with them.
• Author Avatar: Graham Linehan has confirmed that Roy is partially based off of himself.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Jen, mostly in series 1.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: His whole work ethic is to do the least amount of work as humanly possible.
• Butt-Monkey: Like you wouldn't believe. Roy endures more Amusing Injuries and other such misfortunes than anyone in the whole series. This reaches ridiculous levels in the finale.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • "Hello, IT, have you tried turning it on and off again?" He even uses it as an answering machine when he can't be bothered to answer the phone.
  • In at least the first few episodes, he had a habit of saying the wrong thing and then correcting himself— "No, no, that's what I meant!"
• Chivalrous Pervert: Roy does openly lech on women but draws the line on sexual harassment and he won't do anything that breaks their boundaries, as shown by his dislike of Bill Crouse and Douglas Reynholm.
• Cloud Cuckoolanders Minder: For Moss and Richmond before Jen arrived, since he was the most normal one by comparison. He still occasionally takes on the role in her absence, and still acts as this in the face of Jen's own eccentricities.
• Comic Trio: Alternates between being the clueless leader and the ignored voice of reason.
• Deadpan Snarker: Mostly towards Moss, but Jen gets her share too.
• Everyone Has Standards: He may be a bit of a perv himself, he's disgusted by sexual harassment and bragging. He disliked Bill Crouse because he kept bragging about his sex life and he dislikes Douglas Reynholm's treatment of women.
• Expy: He's a considerably more sociable Bernard Black. Considering both shows are done by the guy who did Father Ted, it can be seen that Linehan favors having annoyed Irishmen as his leads.
  • Graham Linehan stated in an interview that he initially intended for Roy to not be Irish, likely in an effort to avert this, but found Chris O'Dowd's performance too perfect to pass up.
• Fighting Irish: Roy's Irishness is rarely addressed in plots or even in dialogue, but his habit of yelling and surly aggressiveness arguably fit this trope.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Shown on occasion; he's created an answering machine that can have I.T. support conversations and a device that allows him to steal vending machine food.
• Genius Slob: He's not a genius like Moss is, but he's shown to be genuinely competent at his job when he can be arsed to actually do it.
• He Cleans Up Nicely: Looks quite good when he's forced to dress nicely.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Moss (if anything, he's the husband). Douglas also seems to think that they're this, though Roy is hardly receptive.
• Hidden Depths: His corner of the office is decorated with items that suggest that he is a fan of underground comics and music, two traits that are otherwise not referenced at any point in the series.
• Hollywood Autism: In the finale, Roy recounts his girlfriend calling him "artistic" in the middle of an argument. This is discussed after he's hung up on believing that little people can't make coffee. Jen deduces that she called him autistic, calling him emotionally colorblind when he uses a cheerfully casual tone of voice when his girlfriend's grandfather dies. His defense is that he wasn't "concentrating." Incidentally, lack of emotional empathy is more a symptom of sociopathy than of autism, the latter of which tends to feature emotional hyperempathy and deficits in social empathy (i.e. how allistic individuals think and communicate in a given situation).
  "Ohhh. Funerals are sad..."
  • He then has to use spices in his eyes to seem appropriately sad... before laughing his hole off at the grandfather's funeral because his side of the family is comprised of little people. He later delivers an impassioned speech about being more sensitive and in touch with his girlfriend's emotions, completely overlooking and ignoring the fact that she's been pepper sprayed and in immense pain (he did miss the fact that she pepper sprayed herself by mistake, though her body language and tone of voice is easily indicative of pain).
• Jerkass/Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a surly slob who'd much rather slack off and snark than actually do his job. Even when you realize how terrible his job is he still comes off as a massive tool. He perhaps has a (well) Hidden Heart of Gold, as he's occasionally willing to stick his neck out for both Moss and Jen and generally acts genuinely thankful when someone treats him well.
• Kavorka Man: While he's reasonably attractive, Roy is a lazy, slovenly jerk who seems to have no problem attracting beautiful women. Keeping them around on the other hand...
• Large Ham: He's quite adept at going off into long winded rants about incredibly minor things and loves to shout.
• The Load: While Jen and Moss have their own faults, Roy lacks any kind of outstanding trait that makes him a clear asset to the group. Jen is (comparatively) good with people, Moss is a bonafide genius and Roy is... from Ireland. This gets brought up and mocked on occasion.
• Manchild: Less so than Moss, Douglas and Richmond though still fully apparent.
• Master of None: Somewhat compensates for not being as socially-capable as Jen or as tech-savvy as Moss by not being quite as socially-inept as Moss or as tech-ignorant as Jen.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: Frequently. Douglas describes the IT department as "A talented young go-getter, a genius, and an Irishman."
• Nice Mean And In Between: The Mean. Rude, slovenly, cynical and petty.
• No-Respect Guy: Gets stepped on by pretty much everybody.
• No Social Skills: Much less so than Moss, though Roy still seems to have little idea of how basic societal conventions work. Despite this though, he's shown several times to be capable of handling social situations surprisingly well when he's prepared for them and has something resembling a social life outside of the IT department.
• Only Sane Man: Trades off with Jen.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Grows into this with Jen over time. While there are a few hints of romantic chemistry, nothing ever comes of it and they instead share what could be called the most normal friendship on the show.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: His voice rises to an obnoxiously high falsetto whenever anxious, scared or excited.
• The Slacker: Will avoid work at all costs. While his job is soul-crushing, it's heavily implied that he was always a lazy good for nothing.
• Spanner in the Works: He has a tendency to ruin Jen's dates, like tagging along with Phillip when he invited Jen to a musical, attending Peter's dinner party and pointing out his name sounds like "Pedophile", pointing out a guy Jen was dating looked like a magician, crashing Jen's date with Daniel, etc.
• This Loser Is You: While Moss is a lovable collection of every nerd trope imaginable, the slovenly, deadbeat and angry Roy is a far more accurate portrayal of people who work in IT.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: While Moss and Jen can also be unsympathetic and Roy can occasionally be quite sympathetic himself, he's generally the biggest jerk of the three and more often than not brings his punishments on himself.

Douglas Reynholm

Pucker up boys. It's hammer time!

Portrayed by: Matt Berry

The son of the former head of Reynholm Industries who takes over the company after his father's suicide. A thoroughly corrupt and idiotic man with a flair for theatrics and philandering. Oddly fixated on spending time with the IT Department, causing him to be a frequent source of annoyance to the main trio.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: Towards Jen, though considering he's tried to drug her in the past, it's understandable. He also doesn't seem to have any interest in her beyond the fact that she's both a woman and his employee and therefore someone that he believes he should be allowed to have sex with. He can't even consistently remember what her name is.
• Affably Evil: While he's incredibly corrupt, he's a fairly pleasant guy to be around, though he's quite annoying.
• All Men Are Perverts: Will do absolutely anything to sleep with women.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Very easily distracted. "Ooooh! A gun!" comes to mind.
• Bad Boss: Though he actually seems to like his employees, he's just ridiculously corrupt, insensitive and boorish.
• Benevolent Boss: Sees himself as one of these. Most of his actions are motivated by his attempts at acting like one.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Heavily implied to have killed his wife at various points across the series.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Almost hilariously corrupt in every sense of the word.
• Cyborg: Gets himself a robot (technically "bionic") hand after his real one gets amputated due to getting an infection from his tattoo that he himself learned how to do. It's strong enough to break glass.
• Depraved Bisexual: Tries to rape Moss and Roy after he becomes heavily sedated. His original target was Jen, but he doesn't seem to mind at all.
• The Ditz: He's hands down the dumbest member of the cast, despite holding the most power.
• Establishing Character Moment: He kicks in the doors of a church, screams out "FATHEEEEEER!!!", makes a hash out of the proceedings, and hits on Jen while he's at it to show he's a lascivious Large Ham who has little time for niceties.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Believes himself to be this with Roy. He's not.
• Hidden Depths: Genuinely tells Roy that he admires his bravery and wishes him luck when he misinterprets Roy mistakenly wearing lipstick as being him making a controversial social statement.
• Hopeless Suitor: Occasionally acts as one towards Jen, though he doesn't seem to be particularly committed to it.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Becomes a prominent character (and the only addition to the main cast after the original three) to the point where, until the belated release of The Internet is Coming, he was the focal character of the final episode. He wasn't introduced until the second series.
• I Love You Because I Can't Control You: Keeps going after Jen, despite her making it clear several times that she has no interest in him, seemingly because he finds her resistance alluring.
• Incoming Ham: He (was) the page image! "FFFAAATHEEERRR!"
• Innocently Insensitive: Sincerely believes himself to be a beloved Benevolent Boss with a glowing reputation and a great rapport with his employees. He's just so fundamentally corrupt, selfish and bigoted that his attempts at actually being the person he believes himself to be always result in him furthering his reputation as a Bad Boss.
• It's All About Me: An interesting case. While he genuinely seems to want to show his appreciation for his employees fairly often, these efforts are foiled by his general selfishness and lack of real interest in them. Notably, while he occasionally acts like a Hopeless Suitor towards Jen or a wannabe buddy towards Roy, he's so self-involved that he can't be guaranteed to remember either of their names. He's more into the idea of being close with his workers than actually being close with them.
• Jerkass: Self-absorbed, corrupt, misogynistic and childish.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He genuinely seems to consider Moss and Roy to be his friends. When he thinks Roy is wearing lipstick to stand up for what he believes in, Douglas applauds his bravery.
• Kavorka Man: He's had plenty of women despite his awful personality. It helps that he's loaded.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: His first official act as head of Reynholm Industries is to fire Derek Pippen, who just couldn't wait to get rid of the IT department and kept reminding them about it.
• Large Ham: "GOD DAMN THESE ELECTRIC SEX PANTS!"
• Manchild: Surprisingly even more so than Moss. If Moss is a coddled Momma's Boy, then Douglas is a sheltered Spoiled Brat.
• Metaphorgotten: "Well, I'm the boss. Head Honcho. El Numero Uno. Mr. Big. The Godfather. Lord of the Rings. The Bourne... Identity. Er... Taxi Driver. Jaws. I forgot the question quite a while back. Who are you, again?"
• Moral Myopia: A strange example that seems to be an inversion of Double Standard Rape: Female on Male. He thinks it's perfectly fine to try and make sexual advances on Jen, but seems to be disgusted at her being amused at Roy's sexual assault encounter with a masseur.
• No Indoor Voice: Shouts nearly every line he has. When he doesn't, he'll still try to overact as much as possible.
• No Social Skills: Despite being far more successful than the IT department, he's hardly any better at understanding how the world works. He compensates for his lack of understanding of most things by being the loudest person in the room at all times.
• Pink Is Erotic: Douglas is shown wearing pink in a few episodes (a t-shirt, a tie, and a dress shirt). He is also obsessed with sex, is openly sexist, and is obsessed with Jen.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Often sports a pink necktie and kerchief, or exercise spandex...
• Silver Spoon Troublemaker: Douglas's actions and behavior are a stark contrast from his father and tend to get him in more hot water.
• Straw Misogynist: His cartoonishly backwards and inappropriate opinions about women are a frequent source of humor. In-universe, he is a frequent target of criticism by various feminist publications, all of which goes completely over his head (he believed he was given the "Shithead of the Year" award by one such organization as recognition for being a feminist icon, for example).
• Til Murder Do Us Part: Heavily implied to have killed his wife.
• Too Dumb to Live: Constantly falling for pyramid schemes, puts a gun in his mouth and fires repeatedly to see if it was loaded, thought a briefcase was a computer, and considers Roy to be the picture of the trendy modern man.
• Trrrilling Rrrs: "SPEAK, PRRRRIEST!"
• Tyrant Takes the Helm: His father was awful and horrendously corrupt, but at least seemed sort of competent at his job. Douglas is manic, unpredictable, and constantly forces his employees to do things they don't want to do. Despite this, he comes off as much more well-intentioned than Denholm ever did.
• We Can Rebuild Him: Gets his hand amputated after it's infected by the tattoo that he himself learned to make. He gets a robotic replacement that looks exactly like his original hand. It's strong enough to break glass, which he uses for his own amusement.

Recurring Characters

Richmond Avenal

...I'm not wearing makeup!

Portrayed by: Noel Fielding

A strange and mysterious goth who lives in the basement of Reynholm Industries. While technically a member of the IT Department (if only through proximity), he spends most of his time locked in a secret room due to Moss and Roy's dislike of him. Jen is slightly more tolerant, allowing him to tag along with the main trio on occasion.

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• Ambiguously Bi: Has (seemingly great) sex with Jen's friend Jessica in one episode, but also has a subscription to Heat magazine, which Roy had earlier (correctly) used to prove that Jen's latest crush was gay due to his interest in it, and in the Series 1 finale is heavily implied to have had drunken sex with Denholm.
• Butt-Monkey: More so than Roy, which is really saying something. How big of a Butt-Monkey is he? Moss actively and openly hates his guts.
• The Bus Came Back: Vanishes from the series for a bit because he has "scurvy", but he returns later.^note  In reality, Noel Fielding was too busy with filming The Mighty Boosh at the time.
• Cassandra Truth: He delivers a dramatic speech in "The Work Outing" about how going to the play will not end well for any of them, but unfortunately it takes so long and he delivers it with his back to them, meaning they just get fed up and sneak out in the middle of it.
  "That's just bloody rude."
• Chekhov's Skill: His background as top executive of Reynholm Industries is what allows the main trio to live comfortably at the top at the end of the series without having to do any work.
• Cloudcuckoolander: He spends most of his time living in the walls reciting poetry, and apparently has conversations with crows.
• Comically Missing the Point: Pretty much his M.O. to the point where he's rarely very useful. He's a nice guy at least.
• Commuting on a Bus: Comes and goes as he pleases, albeit mostly because nobody really cares about him.
• The Eeyore: At times; notably in "The Red Door".
  " There's absolutely no point to anything."
• Embarrassing Middle Name: Felicity.
• Forgettable Character: Roy, Jen and Moss tend to completely forget about his existence for long stretches of time. It's implied that most people do.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Moss and Roy hate him, while the more patient Jen clearly doesn't care much about him and frequently forgets he exists. The crew seems more pleasant towards him later on, especially Roy, but he clearly is a low priority to them. Their friendship is still strong enough that he helps the trio head to the top of the company in the series finale.
• Genius Ditz: The former top executive of Reynholm Industries despite his incredible spaciness. Then again, considering what we see of the upper management...
• Guyliner: He's a walking goth stereotype, after all.
• He Cleans Up Nicely: Inverted. He's naturally a very attractive guy, but his makeup and clothing make him look like a creep.
• Hidden Depths:
  • He was the former second-in-command of Reynholm Industries, with all of the business savvy that title suggests.
  • He's great in bed, if The Stinger for Dinner Part is of any indication:
    Jess: Oh! Look at me! "Having an orgasm!"
• The Load: Never very useful, not like the others give him much of a chance to be.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: It's occasionally hinted that he may actually have become some kind of supernatural vampire-like being through sheer force of moping.
• Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: Though he is very weird.
• Nice Guy: Even more so than Moss, he's a very kind and supportive friend.
• No-Respect Guy: Garners even less respect than Roy.
• No Social Skills: Just as bad as Moss in this regard.
• Perky Goth: He's actually a very nice guy, he just has a terrible habit of talking incessantly about Cradle of Filth (not a real one — that would be horrible!) and depressing everyone around him. Generally, most of his humor is derived from his image as a creepy goth being contrasted by his almost outrageously polite and inoffensive interests.
• Sixth Ranger: Only sometimes tags along and is otherwise ignored.
• Sophisticated as Hell: Tells Jen he only drinks absinthe, but happily accepts when she offers him Carlsberg instead.
• Token Good Teammate: Even more than Moss. He's the most selfless character on the show by far, but this rarely ever does him much good due to his tendency to get totally ignored.
• Wall Crawl: He's capable of scaling a wall in seconds with relative ease. It may have something to with all the time he spends trapped inside them.
• What, Exactly, Is His Job?: He just sort of hangs out in the walls.

Denholm Reynholm

I hope it doesn't sound arrogant when I say that I am the greatest man in the world.

Portrayed by: Chris Morris

Douglas' late father and the original head of Reynholm Industries. Compensated for being slightly more competent than his son by being an even bigger tool. Commits suicide in the series two premiere in order to escape retribution for his corrupt business dealings.

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• Affably Evil: Seems kind enough to his employess but gives off the vibe that he considers himself superior to them, and has been draining money from the pension for quite some time. It's implied he went to Hell, as he briskly pushes Hitler out of view when trying to beckon Douglas to the other side.
• Bad Boss: Fires the entire fourth floor and current security team because they couldn't work as a team.
• Beware the Silly Ones: His video message to Douglas, meant to be viewed in private, begins rattling off a startlingly specific and corrupt method to drain money from his company. When Douglas is dying, he sees Denholm waiting for him at what he says is Heaven... then pushes Hitler out of the frame to convince Douglas to come to him.
• Broken Record: "Are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure?"
• Catchphrase: Has a tendency to say "brilliant!" in the same tone of voice quite a bit.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: The opening shot of the series is an image of him, which the camera pulls back to reveal is a portrait of himself, while he is doing the same pose in real life. Also laughs at cups of tea, wears earplugs for no reason, and eats an apple for the majority of his video will.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Has had a "suck fund" taking money from the company, set up by an accountant who'd recently been released from prison.
• Department of Redundancy Department: Has a habit of reusing the same words and phrases in a single sentence, making him sound like he's rambling and forgotten what he meant to say. Even he looks confused by it on one occasion.
• Driven to Suicide: When the authorities arrive to inquire about irregularities in the pension, he calmly commits a...
• Disney Villain Death: Asks his assistant to make him a cup of tea, then calmly walks out of the window, plummeting to his death.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Immediately calls off his revived friendship with Richmond after the latter calls him by his first name (which he'd invited Richmond to do), re-sentencing him to his position in the basement and calls him a goblin.
• Hidden Depths: In the final episode of the first series, we see him quickly abandon the crowd he's with in favor of dancing with the I.T. workers, which he continues to do all night. Douglas tells the crew that his father was especially proud of his I.T. department.
• Jerkass Has a Point: As forcibly as he enforces the ideals, it is important for coworkers to be able to work together as a team, and stress can cause problems in the workplace if it's not relieved properly.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He treats his I.T. employees with dignity and remembers their names, leaves his company to his estranged son, giving him advice on how to get rich off of stealing money from it, and is even shown being genuinely friendly with Richmond in flashbacks.
• Large Ham: Though not quite to the same degree as his son, Denholm was still a very theatrical and eccentric man.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: Unpredictable and frightening to his employees.
• Posthumous Character: He occasionally factors into plots even after his death, and even occasionally reappears in the form of various video wills (and Douglas' brief visit to the afterlife).
• Self-Disposing Villain: Kills himself in the second season to avoid arrest siphoning money from his company.

Other Characters

Victoria Reynholm

Portrayed by Belinda Stewart-Wilson

• Cloud Cuckoolander: Almost as much of one as Douglas. She randomly gets interested in other people’s desserts, and when she’s having lunch with Jen in Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant, she eats a knife.
  Jen: [picking up a knife] I didn’t know these were edible too.
  Victoria: They’re not.