Armando Iannucci

Armando Iannucci interview

Armando Iannucci talks about the new Alan Partridge projects and the new series of The Thick Of It.

The wobbly camerawork, as if shot by a team of four-year-olds who have run off with the digicam; the mournfully drab municipal setting; the absence, God forbid, of a laugh track; the studiedly natural dialogue. The Office begat The Thick Of It which begat this, a downbeat comedy set on an anonymous NHS ward. It came as no surprise that this, the first episode of the second series (I've come to it late), was directed by Peter Capaldi and starred Joanna Scanlan - each a first-class honours graduate of the Armando Iannucci school of comedy.

And this, being the series opener, it was appropriate that this most self-effacing of entertainments kept the action to the bare minimum. An unconscious old homeless person was admitted whom neither Nurse Den Flixter (Joanna Scanlan) nor her underling Kim Wilde (Jo Brand) really wanted to deal with. A little later, a woman visited her ailing mother and challenges Dr Pippa Moore (Vicki Pepperdine) about the level of pain relief available. That was it. The comedy, such as it was, peeped out from the fraught exchanges between Den, Dr Moore and the male Matron Hilary (Ricky Grover) as they tussled for the upper hand among the dank beds and grey windows. Kim meanwhile rolled her eyes and tried to keep out of trouble.

Yet, days later, it's not the comedy that stays with you, but the show's portrait of the NHS in miniature. Brand, Pepperdine and Scanlan are co-writers, and one assumes Brand's early career as a psychiatric nurse keeps the tone right, if not the up-to-the-minute detail. The passage of the homeless woman from Kim and Den, to the reluctant care of a junior house officer, to the corridor as they try to offload her on another ward was as understandable as it was distressing. Similarly, a well-informed woman's request that her mother's meds be amped up wasn't so much wryly amusing as it was useful - so that, you thought, is how you get someone to pay you proper attention: bone up on the internet, be endlessly polite and don't let them off the hook.

Armando Iannucci 'producing White House comedy for HBO'

Armando Iannucci, the creator of The Thick Of It and In The Loop, has reportedly turned his attention to US politics and is developing a television comedy about a female Vice-President.

Iannucci 'is editing Partridge vodcasts'

Armando Iannucci has confirmed that he is currently editing a series of online Alan Partridge web episodes.

Iannucci details 'In The Loop' follow-up

Armando Iannucci has revealed the storyline for Out The Window, his follow-up to the Oscar-nominated political comedy In The Loop.

Iannucci: 'Now is not the time for a crap opposition'

Armando Iannucci, creator of The Thick of It, is Britain's greatest political satirist in recent years. So, when is he going to sink his teeth into the coalition?

US cable network Comedy Central has ordered a pilot based on the satirical UK history series Time Trumpet, which originally aired over six parts on BBC2 in 2006.

The format was created by UK comic Armando Iannucci and Comedy Central has asked him to oversee the US adaptation, according to US trade THR. If picked up for a series, it could launch in 2011.

Free Download: Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive

The Guardian and Observer have teamed up with Audible to give away a free audiobook download every day this week.

Today's download is the best of Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive.

Fans of Armando Iannucci's already classic The Thick Of It will be familiar with the comic work of Justin Edwards, thanks to his role as gormless wannabe-Machiavelli "Blinky" Ben Swain. But his solo shows in the guise of dipsomaniac children's "entertainer" Jeremy Lion are an altogether different (if no less hilarious) proposition. Red-faced, belching and swigging from cans of Special Brew, Lion is a majestically larger-than-life grotesque. When Edwards last brought this character to the fringe in 2005 he walked away with a Perrier nomination and, on the strength of his latest show, you wouldn't bet against him receiving similar recognition this time. The brand-new eco-themed spectacular sees Lion and pianist Hilary Cox (AKA comic Gus Brown) in a "play" about the dangers of an environmentally unfriendly lifestyle. This is big, vivid and brilliant comedy, with set pieces that could see you feeling incapacitated with laughter.

The MediaGuardian Top 100 2010 - 60. Armando Iannucci

He may have been stranded at the BBC's election night boat party, but The Thick of It creator's profile continues to rise.