Rebecca Front

The Thick of It returned to our screens having been promoted from BBC4 to BBC2, which, obviously, in no way mirrored the promotion of Nicola Murray (Rebecca Front) who has moved from absolutely nowhere to secretary of state at the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship.

Thus far, Nicola is holding her own despite being denied the extraordinarily amusing (swearing can be both funny and clever, but don't tell the kids) lexicon of foul-mouthed invective habitually gifted to Tucker, while already participating in the visual gag of the year (decade? millennium?) so far.

Meanwhile, Jesus H f***ing Corbett (as Malcolm would, and indeed does, say), I dearly wish I could share some of last night's magisterial Tuckerisms but, thrillingly, every single one is such unquotable uberfilth that, fingers crossed, we'll soon see Malcolm on Question Time.

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.

As Peep Show comes to an end, so the other gem of the British comedy landscape returns for a very welcome news series. Yes, The Thick of It is back, and so is the sublime and sweary Malcolm Tucker played with relish by Peter Capaldi. There's a new minister for social affairs and citizenship (Rebecca Front) for Malcolm to deal with, and no doubt Olly, Glenn and Terri will conspire to make Malcolm's life one giant migraine. It's as creatively foul-mouthed as ever, and one can't help feel you are watching true genius at work here.

The sacred profanities

I've been in the thick of some glorious swearing of late. But should I let my children watch it?

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.

Interview with Rebecca Front

Earlier this week Armando Iannucci tweeted that Rebecca Front would be the new Minister for Social Affairs in the next series of The Thick of It. We got terribly excited at the prospect of this and got in touch with Rebecca to find out more.