Last night's TV

The IT Crowd is a new sitcom. Only last month, the sitcom was pronounced dead, which would dishearten many. It is engagingly old-fashioned. You hardly expected that. It is neither shakey nor surreal. There is a studio set and a studio audience.

Roy (Chris O'Dowd) and Moss (Richard Ayoade) are the only people in Reynholm Industries who understand computers. Jen (Katherine Parkinson) is appointed their manager by Chris Morris in manic mode. "Your CV said you have a lot of experience of computers." There is a pause in which candour is briefly considered and as briskly dismissed. "I did say that on my CV. Yes." Which is how Jen came to join the drudgeons in the dungeon, who treat you like an idiot ("Have you tried turning it off and on again?") and are, therefore, beaten up on a fairly regular basis.

IT is by Graham Lineham, one of the Father Ted scriptwriters, and the line of descent from Craggy Island is clear. Roy is recognisably human and prone to sins of the flesh. Moss speaks fluent computer but seems somehow dislocated, as if his knees are on the wrong way round. Like Father Ted and Father Dougal, they are acknowledged to be in touch with a Higher Power and urgently solicited in emergencies. Otherwise, they are widely dismissed as social inadequates, who probably wear Y-fronts.

It's fun. Who wouldn't enjoy the MD trying to talk to his computer because Roy says he has installed a voice-activation system. Or the government initiative to change 999 to 01189998819991197253, which proves a mild inconvenience when the fire extinguisher catches fire.

I feel a smouldering resentment bursting into flame. Who can remember the number for directory enquiries? At what point did lifts start talking to us? Who asked their opinion anyway? What is your pin number? Your password? Your memorable word? Why can't you remember your memorable word? There is a man in Newcastle who is going to be deported for forgetting his wife's middle name. Yvonne, if you were wondering. If I can remember where I put my spectacles in the morning, that is happiness enough for me.

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