Armando Iannucci

No rehearsal for Thick Of It cast

Producer Adam Tandy said that they filmed the BBC Two episode - directed by the show's creator Armando Iannucci - in a way which would make the inquiry, examining government leaks, as realistic as possible.

He said: "We gave our regular cast no rehearsal at all, and simply pushed them on to set with the cameras already running, and then our Clerk swore them in."

After a measured start, Armando Iannucci's political farce has really begun to throw its characters into a whirlwind of events, which this week come faster than a DVD of The West Wing locked on x32 speed. Having ousted Nicola Murray in a clinical putsch, a now resurgent Malcolm Tucker relishes a new leadership that can 'stick the boot into those coked-up, cousin-fucking chinless aliens'. The heir presumptive is Dan Miller, once presented as a youthful and polished Blairite (perhaps modelled on David Miliband). His coronation is side-tracked by a series of events that has the entire cast in all its various factions (including the ludicrously dude-ish minor coalition partners) working together in perfect chaos. Meanwhile, Peter Mannion's temper is boiling over; with a couple of members of the public in his office tonight, you feel like the word 'pleb' could burst out of him at any moment.

"No smiling. Not even a wee Anne Robinson. The look we're going for should be solemn respect. Like blokes modelling underpants," scolds Malcom Tucker (Peter Capaldi) to his team in this fifth episode of Armando Iannucci's political comedy series, back after a one-week hiatus. Tonight, Nicola Murray (Rebecca Front) and Peter Mannion (Roger Allam) are both on the back foot after the unravelling of the key-worker housing sell-off policy.

Peter Mannion: I hate conference.

What do politicians really think of their annual shindigs? This leaked memo from Coalition minister Peter Mannion to a long-standing Tory friend reveals all...

It does sometimes seem like just one-long exchange of well-crafted insults, but Armando Iannucci's comedy of political (bad) manners is one of the most purely enjoyable things on television. This week a reluctant Peter Mannion (Roger Allam) has been dragooned into a "thought camp" in a rural hotel with no mobile signal. And then the proverbial hits the fan.

Life continues to veer from crisis to disaster in the fourth series of Armando Iannucci's sublime political comedy, with media strategist Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) here making his first appearance of the series. Leader of the Opposition Nicola Murray (Rebecca Front) struggles with left and right in more ways than one as she prepares for a public appearance with the PM and tries to manoeuvre away from the "assistance" of Tucker.

Audio: Armando Iannucci on TV's future

Armando Iannucci has suggested the BBC licence fee will face difficulties in the future because of changing technologies.

Speaking to Steve Hewlett on The Media Show, BBC Radio 4, he said in ten years time the licence fee will be "difficult to operate".

He also shared his experience of the process of commissioning programmes at the BBC.

Media Talk podcast: Armando Iannucci special

After delivering the Bafta Annual Television Lecture, broadcaster and producer Armando Iannucci talks to John Plunkett about what is wrong with the industry and what we must do to fix it.

Why British satire is hard bloody work

Peter Cook's old Establishment club is back in London after 50 years - will it bring some Armando Iannucci- or Ian Hislop-esque hard satire to the live circuit?

Armando Iannucci: BBC should fight back against critics

Thick Of It creator Armando Iannucci said British television suffered from 'consistent cack-handed interference by politicians goaded by the press'.