The next series of the IT Crowd will probably be the last, writer Graham Linehan has revealed.

Linehan, who is also working on a TV project with Radio 4 favourite Count Arthur Strong, says he topes to write the fifth series of the Channel 4 sitcom this year, but then intends to call it a day.

‘I think one more series to really say goodbye to the characters and the fans,’ he told Chortle. ‘I’m not rushing into it because I don’t want it to be a zombie series where the show is dead but its body is still moving around.’

The show, which launched in 2006, has grown into one of Channel 4’s most dependable comedy hits, attracting a record 2.17million viewers for the last episode in series four. Twitter was recently awash with rumours that Osama Bin Laden was a fan… which Linehan subsequently admitted were started by him.

Meanwhile, Linehan has been working on a new stage adaptation of classic Ealing comedy The Ladykillers, set to open in Liverpool in October.

Published: 20 May 2011