2008 episode of the British Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd
"The Speech" is an episode of the British Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd. It was the fourth episode of series 3 of the show, and first aired on 12 December 2008.
Years after its initial broadcast, there was significant controversy about the representation in the episode of a transgender woman (played by Lucy Montgomery) that included a fist fight between her and the character of Douglas Reynholm (played by Matt Berry) that led to Channel 4 removing the episode from its streaming platform in 2020.[1]
Plot
In the episode, Jen boasts about winning Employee of the Month and makes Roy and Moss write her acceptance speech. Seeing an opportunity to humiliate her, Roy and Moss trick Jen by lending her "the internet" in the form of a small black box with a blinking light. They explain that if anything were to befall it, there would be worldwide chaos.
Douglas finds the love of his life in a journalist named April, but mishears that she used to be a man, thinking she said that she is from Iran. At the shareholders meeting, Moss and Roy find their prank has backfired when the shareholders hang on Jen's every word about the internet. After learning the truth about April, Douglas breaks up with her, but their ensuing fist fight disrupts the shareholder meeting, crushing "the internet", and causing panic. Later, Douglas, alone at home, regrets breaking up with April.
Reaction
The series creator Graham Linehan described the removal of the episode as "an attack on my right to freedom of speech", and described Channel 4's behaviour as disingenuous and motivated by "religious reasons".[2] Linehan felt the joke was "harmless" and says he did not understand the "ferocity" of the response, arguing that a transphobic character did not make him or the episode transphobic.[3][4]
In an interview with The Spectator about the episode and its ban, he stated that "we are being forced to accept a religious belief that men can become women. It causes harm and leads young people to think that people like JK Rowling hate them".[5]
Linehan has stated that the reaction to the episode caused him to take an active interest in transgender issues, saying in an interview with Andrew Billen in The Times that "When it went out, the pushback was so weirdly aggressive that I just thought there was something a bit strange about it. I thought, this is different from usual. So I started paying attention."[6]
Matt Berry has since described the episode as "ridiculous and dated", stating that he does not condone the portrayal in the episode.[1][7]
Sarah Barrett, writing in The Mary Sue, reported that Linehan has stated in his autobiography that the episode was inspired by a supposed interaction between the TV presenter Des Lynam and the transgender model and actress Caroline Cossey.[8]
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