Fans of The Office have written their own scripts this week about what they think is happening behind the scenes. Like me, they watched Ricky Gervais’ YouTube special on the 25th Anniversary of the brilliant sitcom and were slightly confused.Ricky mentioned other cast members of The Office around David Brent, but failed to mention the co-creator Stephen Merchant. Not only was he there on set every day making sure each scene went to plan, he also co-wrote all those hilarious scenes with Ricky.Fans are now outraged that Ricky has seemed to airbrush Stephen out of the show, and having met Ricky a number of times, I found it at odds with the way he is normally generous in his praise for co-stars and crew. I remember being on the set of After Life and him talking up the performances of other stars.So I got in touch with Ricky’s team and they insisted they’re shocked this has become such a big story. Ricky and Stephen are no longer close and rarely talk but I was told there is “absolutely no bad blood” between them.‌I also now know Ricky’s intention for the David Brent YouTube special was actually to be from the perspective of Brent or himself on set and so for that reason Ricky spoke primarily about ‘his’ character. This again makes sense that Stephen wouldn’t be mentioned much, if at all.He spoke for several hours in total on camera which was cut down to the hour show we saw with a lot of time being taken up on clips of The Office. A friend of Ricky’s told me: “It is safer to speak for yourself with these things, but you can’t really win.”I’m told Ricky is also perplexed this has blown up in the way it has, amongst fans on social media. If I had one suggestion for him, it would be to add Stephen’s name into the description underneath the YouTube video counting down Brent’s top 25 moments. It sounds a bit small and silly but it would be a way of shutting down the backlash and acknowledging him as the co-creator.‌And some fans may not know, it wasn’t always this way. Back in 2010 receiving the Sir Peter Ustinov comedy Award, Ricky thanked Stephen and said: “I consider working with Stephen my day job. There is nothing better than sitting in a room with Steve, coming up with stuff.”They appeared on Chatty Man together and Ricky admitted to Alan Carr that Stephen kept him on the straight and narrow.Ricky said: “We met when I offered him a job as an assistant. He was the sensible one, I was a bit of a slob. When we were writing The Office he would call me up and say ‘we’ve got to work’.” Grinning Stephen said: “I have got to look after him.”‌However, perhaps down the years, Ricky has become less enthralled by collaboration. Eight years ago at the Oxford Union, he was asked directly about working with Stephen Merchant, and Ricky said: “I’ve worked with Steve, I’ve worked with Matt Robinson…and I’ve always had one rule which is let me get my own way or I’m sulking.“What you don’t do is you never come in with two different scripts and then fight for yours. You work on something and if one of you doesn’t like it something it doesn’t go in. Often you might throw out 90% of stuff but the bit you are left with you both love.”He went on to say that the fun bit for him was coming up with his ideas and admitted with a grin he was “an egomaniac” and seemed to suggest he was moving away from any collaboration in future.‌After Life and Derek were both created solely by Ricky and he also tours stand up shows he writes himself.Speaking separately at the Oxford Union in 2018, Stephen made it clear they both felt when they split creatively it was the right time, after The Office, Extras, Life’s Too Short and XFM radio where they first worked together.Stephen said: “We worked together for pretty much cheek-by-jowl for over ten years and I think it’s that feeling of being pulled in different directions creatively.”People also seem put out that Ricky or Stephen didn’t do anything for the BBC for The Office anniversary. In Stephen’s case he seems to have moved on although he posted a short clip on his instagram in celebration.‌In this he made it clear the show was a “joint effort” and spoke warmly of the days when he and Ricky would improvise ideas and speak and joke into a dictaphone, only to listen back the next day to see if they still found the ideas funny.In terms of Ricky, I’m told he had already planned the Brent special for his YouTube channel before the BBC approached him about doing any anniversary programmes.So unfortunately there was no happy ending for The Office in terms of a reunion, but perhaps for the 50th we can get Ricky and Stephen back together.It might be the only way to stop the conspiracy theories and Youtube and social media comments.