The Thick Of It

The first episode of the new series features one shocking absence - Malcolm Tucker languishes in opposition and is nowhere to be seen as yet - and of hints that the compromises of coalition are an open goal to for satirists. A botched schools policy dominates the opening episode. It's the brainchild of the Coalition's junior partners but - at the behest of fearsomely irritating spin doctor Stewart Pearson (Vincent Franklin) - it's launched by Roger Allam's crusty traditionalist Peter Mannion, who palpably neither knows nor cares about the initiative. Before long, Mannion's taken his daily 'gaffe dump' and is branded a 'fibre-optic Fagin' - could the government really be proposing the idea of getting kids to design apps to pay for their higher education? As you may have gathered, many of the names remain the same, they're just on different sides of the government/opposition equation. But some things never change. Still bumbling along in the background - hilarious, admirable, pitiful - are civil servants Glenn Cullen (James Smith) and Terri Coverley (Joanna Scanlan). Terri wants out but she's 'too expensive to get rid of.' Glenn is sadder still - when his new colleagues aren't ignoring him completely, they're comparing him to 'a week-old party balloon.' Yet does Glen hold the key to the show's essence? Glenn loses every battle he fights...

The Thick of It: lines of the week - episode one

The Thick of It returns - and every week we'll be picking the lines that made us guffaw most. Add your favourites and unleash your opinions on the coalition partners.

The Thick of It, BBC Two, review

Michael Deacon reviews the return of Armando Iannucci's satirical political comedy The Thick of It (BBC Two).

Thick of It: Could Mannion steal the f***ing series?

To me Mannion not only steals the show in this episode, but may even steal the series at this rate.

A coalition government working in perfect disharmony

Watching this bunch in action brought into sharp relief just how hard Iannucci must have worked for the well-received Veep to find its own, slightly mellower feet. It must be a particularly British thing to enjoy with such bottomless glee the schadenfreude of such debasing, wound-picking asides, and that's before a certain Mr Tucker makes his return to the political arena next week...

The Thick Of It: Series 4, Episode 1 review

The whole brilliant episode was as if it had never been away. Chiefly perhaps, because thanks to the sterling work of our own Coalition government in recent years, it really doesn't feel as if it has.

On balance the BBC probably picked the worst week to launch the new series of The Thick Of It. Because no matter how funny the opener was it could never have been as amusing as the fallout from David Cameron's Cabinet reshuffle.

Of course, you may question how anything in life could possibly be funnier than Peter Capaldi's potty-mouthed spin doctor Malcolm Tucker - and you'd be right. But Tucker wasn't in it. And neither was Rebecca Front's Nicola Murray, his most recent sparring partner.

Still, as a scene-setter for the new Coalition era it did manage some laugh-out-loud moments. And the return of Roger Allam's gloriously withering Minister Peter Mannion was most welcome.

Although, not as welcome as the trailer for next Saturday's episode. Because Tucker is back. Murray is back. And the hair of Chris Addison's oily Ollie is insipidly slicked back. Happy (expletive deleted) days, as Tucker might say.

Video: Vincent Franklin on Steve Hilton PR guru

Vincent Franklin who plays PR guru Stewart Pearson in the political satire The Thick Of It said lawyers allowed him to say: "I am a little bit like Steve Hilton".

The actor's role has been linked to David Cameron's outgoing PR guru, and he described filming scenes in Westminster for the political satire, which also returns with a new coalition government mirroring real political events.

Armando Iannucci's political satire returns for its fourth series - the first since Labour was ousted from government - and the good news is that it's still brilliant. The MPs, advisers and civil servants of the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship are now working for a coalition government yet, unsurprisingly, are no more effective at their jobs. The department has created a new digital project aimed at teenagers but spin doctor Stewart Pearson (Vincent Franklin) decides that it should be launched by the Secretary of State (Roger Allam) - a man who has not only had no involvement in its development but is also digitally illiterate. Sadly it's a Peter Capaldi-free episode but he returns next week.

An interview with the Rt Hon Nicola Murray MP

As The Thick of It returns, Sean Gray interviews the new Leader of the Opposition, Nicola Murray.