The Office producer says there are scenes that he ‘wouldn’t do now’
The producer who brought The Office to our screens has admitted there are some scenes in the show he “wouldn’t do now” – while shooting down claims there’s a “culture war” in comedy.
The Office rocketed Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant to fame, while also setting Ash Atalla on the path to becoming one of the UK’s most successful TV producers.
Atalla, now 53, parted ways with the pair when the mockumentary came to an end, and went on to produce The IT Crowd, before founding his own production company. Roughcut TV, which he started in 2007, has delivered shows – including People Just Do Nothing – for all of the UK’s major broadcasters.
Reflecting on some of his previous works, Atalla has admitted there are some scenes that he wouldn’t include if the shows were being made now, adding that if his comedy has upset people, he would like to “apologise and move on”.
The IT Crowd in particular has drawn scrutiny in recent years and in 2020, Channel 4 removed an episode from its streaming service after complaints about its depiction of a transgender woman.
Atalla has now told The Telegraph: “The question is: is it enough of a defence to say that it was of its time? And I think, yes it is. The world moves on, things move on.
“There are definitely a couple of bits of The Office that we wouldn’t do now. The IT Crowd? Ninety-eight per cent of it is fine, and two per cent, yeah, we wouldn’t do now.”
“I’m not interested in upsetting people with my comedy,” he continued. “And if we have done, I would apologise and move on.
“I don’t want to be sitting in rooms arguing with people about politics or race or anything through my work. That’s not where I want my career to live.”
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The IT Crowd isn’t the only British comedy to be retrospectively censored. In 2020, Netflix sparked debate when it removed episodes of The Mighty Boosh and League of Gentlemen because of their use of blackface.
The move was described as an “arbitrary gesture” by comedian Jack Carroll, who wrote on X that it “means they don’t have to put any real work into combating actual instances of racial discrimination and comedy history is getting smashed in the process”.
The debate is also rumbling on over in the States, where Jerry Seinfeld said in 2023 that the “extreme left and PC crap” has ruined comedy – a comment he then said he would like to “officially” take back a year later.
“I don’t even understand why he would think that,” Atalla said of Seinfeld’s original comment. “Look at his work, one of the greatest sitcoms ever, where is the culture war in that?
“Seinfeld is mostly a bloke worrying about having too many pickles in his sandwich.”
