The Thick Of It

According to Mark Lawson, a recent meeting between top-level BBC talent and execs saw the former bemoaning the corporation's current paranoia about any joke that the Daily Haters might find offensive, and arguing that this was stifling comedy. The suits apparently hit back by saying, "How can you say we are not risk-taking when The Thick Of It is on - and on Saturday nights, no less?" To tvBite's little mind, this is to miss the point: TTOI is still very good, but is now just a one-man turn. No matter how brilliantly barked the sweary similes, is a parody of a Labour spin-doctor who quit six years ago really pushing back the boundaries of comedy and taste? Not hating on the show, but if the execs are patting themselves on the back for how cutting-edge the series is, then that's evidence of a big problem.

A superb episode of Armando Iannucci's effortless political satire, as Nicola Murray and her opposition counterpart, Peter Mannion, appear on Richard Bacon's radio show. And the results are, as you'd expect, not pretty. But it's the encounter behind the scenes between Malcolm Tucker and Mannion's own wizard of spin, Stewart Pearson, where the real thrust of this episode lies. It's like the meeting of two powerful Jedi. Or something.

Richard Bacon on being in The Thick of It

Richard Bacon describes what it was like to take part in an episode of The Thick Of It.

Chris Addison: Into the bear pit

The Thick of It is a savage send-up of Labour, politics and spin. So would its star feel uneasy inside Parliament?

Den Of Geek review of episode 3.4

Malcolm Tucker's finest diatribe of the series to date is one of the many highlights of the latest episode of The Thick Of It...

Good news: tonight sees the return of Roger Allam as laconic Tory frontbencher Peter Mannion. Mannion's that rare creature - a screen Tory who isn't a frothing monster or a cad. Instead he radiates disdain for the political process, and in particular for his own ludicrous spin maestro Stewart Pearson, a cant-filled creep forever wanting to "take a turn on the ideas carousel" or "imagineer a narrative". Mannion and his team are due at the ministry for a routine visit just as news leaks of problems in Secretary of State Nicola Murray's private life: her daughter is in trouble at school. As always, the rumours spiral into a vicious storm of invective and farce.

The Thick of It: series three, episode 4

The opposition return - and Tucker is put to shame by the opposition spin doctor. But not in the swearing stakes, obviously.

Joanna Scanlan on playing Terri

"Terri Coverley's natural habitat is the Buckingham Palace Garden Party. She's already been invited on six occasions. If Terri is not actually in attendance at The Palace, then she likes to dress as though she is."

Tonight's instalment of officially the best comedy on television (according to me, so there) sees the return of Roger Allam's Tory MP Peter Mannion, last seen in the fantastic specials a couple of years ago. It's a testament to the writing team that Mannion is a likable if fairly impotent character - it would have been easy to portray the Tory as slavering, smug blaggards. It's as sharp as ever, with Mannion's team attempting to capitalise on problems in Nicola Murray's private life. And of course, in the thick of it, there's Malcolm. There's always Malcolm.

The foul-mouthed misanthrope, which is what writer Armando Ianucci has constructed as a comic monster from an image of Alastair Campbell, former director of communications to Tony Blair, now has a new victim, minister Nicola Murray (Rebecca Front). She has four kids and a businessman husband, is neurotic, desperate for affection and approval, happy to blame everyone else for her mistakes - and is a media disaster waiting for its moment.

Peter Capaldi, who plays spin-doctor Malcolm, is the linchpin here, with his gaunt face - most terrible when smiling - and his conviction that all around him are guilty until their innocence is brought to him on a plate. And his terror, too - which is that of one who understands the ruthlessness of media that no longer care for fairness in their dealings or for policy in their coverage, but, like a piranha shoal, drift here and there until blood is in the water, when they swarm. The Thick of It has a solid base, but Capaldi is its on-screen genius.