 |
|
| Denholm Reynholm | |
|---|---|
| Biographical information | |
| Died |
April 30, 2007 |
| Title(s) | |
| Nationality |
British (likely) |
| Physical description | |
| Species |
Human |
| Gender |
Male |
| Hair colour |
Brown |
| Eye colour |
Brown |
| Skin colour |
White |
| Family information | |
| Family members |
|
| Affiliation | |
| Occupation | |
| Business | |
| Business Partner(s) | |
| Loyalty | |
| . | |
- "Gentlemen. When I first started Reynholm Industries, I had just two things in my possession: A dream...and six million pounds. Today I have a business empire the like of which the world has never seen the like of which! Hope it doesn't sound arrogant when I say that I am the greatest man in the world."
- —Denholm Reynholm, seconds before committing suicide
Denholm Reynholm (d. 2007) was the head and founder of his eponymous business empire Reynholm Industries. He set up the multi-million-pound business with only a dream and £6,000,000. However there were many irregularities in the business' pension fund, so much so that in 2007, Denholm committed suicide by jumping from the top floor of the business' headquarters, leaving his only son, Douglas, as head of Reynholm Industries.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Denholm Reynholm was born to Mr. and Mrs. Reynholm around the middle of the 20th century. In his later life, he married and bore a son, Douglas Reynholm. He later divorced his wife and was remarried to Barbara Reynholm. In 2000, Denholm's son Douglas mysteriously disappeared after a lengthy sexual abuse court case. He traveled the world using his father's wealth to fuel his constant need for copious amounts of sex
Foundation of Reynholm Industries[]
As Denholm founded Reynholm Industries with £6,000,000, it is likely that he came from a very well-off and privileged background. The business soon grew extremely quickly and was once making an annual profit of well over £1,800,000,000,000,000,000,000. Denholm soon spent his newfound wealth on his passion for extreme sports. However, it is likely that Denholm was not as innocent as he seemed, as behind closed doors he was secretly concocting a massive scandal involving the company's pension fund, the details of which have not been revealed.
Growth of Reynholm Industries[]
The company was now making a massive annual profit and in 2006, Denholm organised Project Icarus, which increased the productivity of Reynholm Industries by 1000% upon completion and also had all departments working at three times their normal speeds.
In the same year, Denholm also arranged a merging with the Japanese business giant Yamamoto Corporation, however, after Mr. Yamamoto was verbally abused by head of the IT Department, Jen Barber, the merging never went ahead.
Death[]
On one morning in late April or early May, 2007, Denholm was having a conference with the heads of all the departments, when Stephanie, his PA informed him that the police were requesting for an interview with him after irregularities were found in the pension scheme. Denholm sent the worker away, and, knowing he had been found out, calmly opened a window and walked out of it, falling over 30 storeys to the pavement below. His last words were 'Could you make them a cup of tea please, Stephanie?'.
During his funeral, his only son, Douglas, came out of his seven-year-long hiding and made a dramatic appearance. Denholm, in his will, left Douglas the entire business empire, crushing the dream of the former second-in-command Derek Pippen. Denholm also made a separate video will to his son, Douglas Reynholm, to watch in private. The only part of this video that is seen is a section where Denholm is explaining how he performed the pension accounts scandal.
Post-mortem[]
In 2008, Douglas had a near-death experience after accidentally shooting himself in the leg. He seemed to wake up in a heaven-like limbo, where he met his father, who asked him to follow him. Douglas obliged until he suddenly caught sight of Adolf Hitler beside Denholm. Fearing that the place he was in was actually hell, Douglas refused to follow his father and returned back to the land of the living.
Characteristics[]
Personality[]
Denholm was always very serious, outgoing, confident, pragmatic, arrogant and tended to look down on people, especially his staff. Denholm was pointed out by Moss that he loved 'declaring war'. He also seemed to put a lot of pressure on the workers of Reynholm Industries over very trivial matters, once informing them that anyone experiencing stress at the end of the day would be fired, and once firing the entire 4th floor of Reynholm Industries for "not acting like a team". In his funeral film, he reveals that he had a weakness for smoking. Also, halfway through the video, he showed a penchant for eating apples in total silence.
He was always quite ignorant of the driving forces behind his company, particularly the IT Department. Despite growing a massive business empire, Denholm was also quite gullible, particularly when it came to computers, once repeatedly saying "hello" to his computer when he was told it was hooked up with a voice-activation system. He was described himself as being very 'changeable', and often paid people little attention when talking to them.
Denholm Reynholm
Health[]
Before he died, Denholm was always quite healthy, as he cycled the 70-mile long journey to and from work every day, and claimed that his thighs were as red as a fire engine. However, he was a very heavy smoker, and, in his video will, he predicted that, like the rest of his family, cigarettes would be his ultimate demise.
Sexuality[]
His sexuality isn’t known, but it is speculated that he is bisexual, as he was married to a woman before they divorced and later remarried Barbara Reynholm. He also slept with Richmond Avenal, but both were highly drunk at the time and both were horrified when they discovered what they had done the following morning.
Skills and abilities[]
- Cyclist: While he was alive, Denholm was a very keen cyclist, and traveled 70 miles twice every day. He also described his thighs as being as red as a fire engine.
- Business Skills: Although Denholm never went into detail about his business abilities, he obviously had the skills required to be the director of such a large business empire.
- Extreme Sports: Although Denholm was never seen performing any extreme sports, there are many photos behind his desk portraying him participating in such sports as skydiving and wakeboarding.
Relationships[]
The IT Department[]
- "I'm told my father was particularly proud of the IT Department, run by a dynamic go-getter, a genius and a man from Ireland."
- —Douglas Reynholm on his father's relationship with the IT Department
Douglas has said that his father was always very fond of the IT Department, however, this was not revealed until after Denholm's death. Although Denholm never thanked Jen Barber, Maurice Moss and Roy Trenneman for their outstanding work for Project Icarus in 2005, he made up for it when he turned his back on his friends and danced with them at the Thank-You Party. Although their relationships were very brief, lasting only around a year, the department was usually annoyed with his frequent meetings in which Denholm nearly always 'declared war' on something.
When Denholm committed suicide in 2007, all members of the IT Department seemed to be quite shocked and taken aback by the sudden fatality. However, Jen Barber said that she enjoyed informing the rest of the building of their boss's death, though that may have only been as an attempt to seem more confident.
Richmond Avenal[]
- "It sounds like you two had a good relationship at one point"
- —Jen on Denholm and Richmond's relationship
Richmond and Denholm once had a very good relationship together, so much so that Richmond became his Second-in-Command. They were even seen skipping through corridors holding hands. However, when Richmond started listening to Cradle of Filth and became overly gothic, Denholm began to reconsider Richmond's position. Denholm couldn't bear being around Richmond anymore when he showed up at his father's funeral in 2001, covered in white makeup with a teardrop painted onto his cheek.
Denholm's reaction to Richmond's appearance at his father's funeral
Denholm subsequently demoted Richmond to work in the IT Department, where he was put in charge of some abandoned mainframes in a deserted storeroom. When Jen Barber brought him out of isolation in 2005, she convinced Denholm to allow Richmond to return to his original job of Second-in-Command, however, Denholm quickly reconsidered and Richmond was put back in IT, however, he was no longer forced to work in the abandoned storeroom.
Richmond, despite them once having a very good relationship, did not attend Denholm's funeral. However, he did ring Roy Trenneman to inquire if everything was going well.
Douglas Reynholm[]
- "Your affectionate father, Mr. Reynholm"
- —Denholm signing off a note to his son
It is unknown what type of relationship Denholm and his son had, as Douglas only appears after his father's death. Denholm knew about Douglas's sexual harassment charges and was clearly ashamed of him in his video will. However, Douglas seemed to be very overly dramatic at the funeral, suggesting that he was faking his own sadness to gain sympathy.
Physical description[]
Denholm was nearly always seen in work clothing, wearing a black blazer, a white shirt and a coloured tie with polished black shoes. He had very greasy, gelled black hair and brown eyes. Despite having black hair, he sported a small brown moustache and small side-burns. He had an arrogant glint in his eyes that he always showed.
Name etymology[]
- Denholm is a masculine given name of English origin, and translates to "valley island".
- Reynholm is not a real surname and was presumably made up by Graham Linehan to rhyme with Denholm.
Behind the scenes[]
- Denholm was portrayed by British actor and comedian Chris Morris. In the pilot of the American adaption of The IT Crowd, Denholm is played by American actor, Rocky Carroll. In the short-lived German adaption, Denholm's character is renamed Bornholm and is played by German actor Sky du Mont.
- Graham Linehan had to write Denholm's death into the script because Chris Morris had other commitments, although Morris did manage to reprise his role of Denholm in From Hell.
- Like all his appearances while acting, Chris Morris had to wear makeup to hide the birthmark on his face.
Appearances[]
- Yesterday's Jam
- Calamity Jen
- The Red Door
- The Haunting of Bill Crouse
- Aunt Irma Visits '
- Return of the Golden Child (Final regular appearance; dies in this episode)
- From Hell (Appears as a ghost or spirit)