Armando Iannucci

Is The Thick of It the best TV show ever made?

The Thick of It, Armando Iannucci's scabrous Westminster sitcom, has changed the way we see politics. Not bad for a TV programme with only six episodes to its name. Caitlin Moran catches up with its foul-mouthed spin doctor star Malcolm Tucker to follow the making of the second series.

After the success of film spin-off In the Loop last spring, Armando Iannucci's acclaimed political sitcom returns to the small screen - and its raised profile sees it promoted from BBC Four to Two. Rightly so, as it's sharply written, satirically spot-on and often shows uncanny prescience in its themes. Think The West Wing but with drabber corridors of power, no happy Hollywood endings and Tourette's Syndrome. Most memorably, it's graced by sweary spin doctor Malcolm Tucker (the eye-bulgingly, vein-poppingly brilliant Peter Capaldi) - a magnificently monstrous comic creation, not at all based on New Labour attack dog Alistair Campbell, honest. Tonight's opener, typically, starts at breakneck speed with insults flying like bullets and only gets more machine gun-like. It's Reshuffle Day at Number 10 but with the Prime Minister on his way out, no one fancies joining him at the helm of a sinking ship. Needs must, so a backbencher (Rebecca Front) gets promoted from obscurity to the Cabinet. Naturally, with her new ideas and desire to actually do something, she turns out to be trouble, especially for the apoplectic Tucker.

The Thick of It: series three, episode one

With its characters visibly on the way out, Armando Iannucci's satire seems darker - and a bit less funny.

Armando Iannucci interview

As a new series of The Thick of It launches, Armando Iannucci, the hardman of political satire, reveals an unlikely soft spot.

The Thick of It: Back in the loop

With a general election approaching, the return of Armando Iannucci's invective-filled political satire couldn't be better timed, says Gerard Gilbert.

Why I Love...The Thick of It

Armando Iannucci might well be right in his assertion that Yes Minister was the series that first lifted the lid on the workings of government - but history will show that it was The Thick of It that built on that foundation to give us our most candid tour around the corridors of power.

In the Loop and leads nominations for Scottish Baftas

The political satire In The Loop has three nominations, for actor Peter Capaldi, director Armando Iannucci and the film's writers.

The Thick of It: top ten Malcolm Tucker moments

Armando Iannucci's political comedy returns on October 24. So what new heights of swearing will Tucker reach this series - and can anything better his finest moments so far?

Funniest film of 2009? This hilariously biting political satire has already got my vote. Think Yes, Minister with more swearing. A lot more swearing. OK, ballistic levels of swearing. Swearing so sublime and breathtakingly vicious, it makes you wince with pleasure.

As discerning comedy fans will already know, this is the movie adaptation of The Thick Of It, Armando Iannucci's massively acclaimed TV sitcom, which means that by the rules of such transitions, it should be pants.

Yet there are no compromises to be found here, certainly not in the teeth department. With original star Chris Langham unavailable due to his conviction for downloading child porn - a chain of events beyond even the show's scurrilous imagination - it's up to the ever-marvellous Tom Hollander to play hapless secretary of state Simon Foster, who bleats out lines such as: 'To walk the road of peace, sometimes we need to be prepared to climb the mountain of conflict.' Only to be savaged by the PM's rabid Alastair Campbell-alike communications officer, Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi). 'Climb the mountain of conflict?' he scoffs. 'You sound like some Nazi Julie Andrews.'

Bounced along at every turn by brilliant aphorisms and comic turns, including The Sopranos's James Gandolfini bulking out the transatlantic audience appeal as a warmongering general, there's admittedly not much in the way of actual narrative. But, frankly, who cares when you're laughing this hard?

Armando Iannucci's marvellously caustic political sitcom returns with a new minister heading the hapless Department of Social Affairs. Played by Rebecca Front (The Day Today), she'll treat Malcolm Tucker - the petrifying Alastair Campbell-style spin doctor - with "a little less respect than he's used to," says Iannucci.