Buzz has been spreading across the internet about the long awaited grand finale of The IT Crowd which is due in 2013.

The show was initially pencilled in for a fourth series, with creator Graham Linehan opting for co-writers to help ease the load.  However, this plan was scrapped and a special was announced over a year ago.

What happened next was surprising.  Chris O’Dowd became a Hollywood movie-star, Richard Ayoade became a highly acclaimed movie director, Katherine Parkinson kept adding to her incredibly busy CV with roles on radio, television and in film, as well as preparing to become a mum for the first time, and Matt Berry continued to be generally awesome wherever he turned up throughout 2012.  Linehan too, was also busy, with his stage show The Ladykillers and his forthcoming new sitcom Count Arthur Strong.

And so, the special fell into limbo, though the unwritten rule was simple – as soon as the cast can all be assembled in one place, then it will happen.  Which is exactly what Linehan clarified to a fan on Twitter last week, sending the already fairly obvious faint news into a bit of a tizzy, as these reports from brilliant sites like British Comedy Guide and Den Of Geek confirm.  His actual comment was simple: “Hoping to do a special middle of next year.”

Which is exactly what we’d anticipated, given everyone’s schedules.  This isn’t confirmation of the show’s return, but a nice reminder that it’s still on the agenda.  Here’s hoping for one last adventure with Roy, Moss, Jen and Douglas as soon as possible.  As always, if you want confirmed news, you know which onion to peel…