Arts Etc: A star in geek's clothing Mackenzie Crook may play a loser in TV's `The Office', but his ambitions go far beyond the sitcom, he tells Veronica Lee

From: The Independent on Sunday | Date: September 22, 2002| Author: Veronica Lee | Copyright information

My interview with Mackenzie Crook gets off to a bad start when he fails to turn up. We reschedule for a week later and an embarrassed Crook greets me with profuse apologies and a disarming, "I completely forgot about it. My agent goes on holiday and my life falls apart."

It would be tempting to think that Crook, 30, is as much a social inadequate as Gareth, the sad-bloke character he plays in BBC2's The Office. But he's just a little fey, that's all, and a few minutes in his company i...