The Thick Of It

Profile: Armando Iannucci

Armando Iannucci's coruscating political satire show The Thick of It has just returned to television screens.

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.

My Week: Armando Iannucci

The TV producer and presenter finds himself genuinely in the thick of it with Nick Griffin's arrival the BBC.

The Thick of It reaches the thin end

Peter Capaldi has invented a great comic character, as memorable as Alf Garnett, Victor Meldrew or old man Steptoe.

Den Of Geek review

It's not a good time to be a politics nerd. Just ask the poor writers of The Thick Of It, who having already examined a government rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic and an excitable opposition looking forward to assuming office in 2007's special episodes. What is left to satirise now when nothing else has changed?

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 return of The Thick of It

Chris Addison, star of the part-improvised sitcom The Thick of It, describes the stresses and joys of filming.

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.