The Thick Of It
- TV sitcom
- BBC Two / BBC Four
- 2005 - 2012
- 23 episodes (4 series)
Satirical political sitcom. Number 10's foul-mouthed policy enforcer Malcolm Tucker rules the Government's PR team with an iron fist. Stars Peter Capaldi, Chris Addison, James Smith, Joanna Scanlan, Rebecca Front and more.
Press clippings Page 32
Think Yes Minister on speed - and that includes the cameraman. But lurching around with hand-held cameras is all part of the modern mockumentary, a reminder that this is on-the-fly comedy rather than a contrived sitcom. The result here is brilliant, if you can live with a slight headache.
Jim Hacker lives in the form of hapless Minister for Social Affairs Hugh Abbot (Chris Langham) but with more sweary bits. And while Sir Humphrey Appleby was all oily charm, Abbot's advisers (James Smith and Chris Addison) are more bumbling and insecure.
But nowhere in Yes Minister was there anyone like splenetic chief political adviser Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), clearly modelled on Tony Blair's spinmeister, Alastair Campbell.
Clare Morgan, Sydney Morning Herald, 28th November 2008In The Thick of It Special, all things seemed possible - even the Cillit Bang guy as PM.
The Thick of It Special: Spinners and Losers (BBC4) is a savoury mix of humiliation, abuse, terror, male genitalia and the comic possibilities of the word "fuck". The script sounds the way a goose looks taking off, funny and off the cuff.
Nancy Banks-Smith, The Guardian, 4th July 2007The treat of the night was The Thick of It (BBC 4), a firework display of testosterone and undeleted expletives.
Nancy Banks-Smith, The Guardian, 28th October 2005I will really miss The Thick of It (BBC4). It was the sort of show which got you a seat on the tube. If you thought about it, you started to laugh.
Nancy Banks-Smith, The Guardian, 3rd June 2005Yes yes yes minister
I waded through Footballers' Wives, Celebrity Love Island, Abi Titmuss: A Modern Day Morality Tale and Wife Swap USA before I saw The Thick of It. It was well worth the wade. I didn't know I could cackle like a witch discovering a fresh supply of eye of newt, but cackle I could. And cry until the tears dried on my cheeks.
Nancy Banks-Smith, The Guardian, 20th May 2005'A semi-improvised sitcom set in the back rooms of Westminster' might sound like the driest, most clever-clever, Bremner-ish bit of business imaginable, but that's precisely what this isn't: it's laugh-out-loud funny - so good, in fact, I watched the second episode on video immediately after finishing the first, then phoned up the BBC to badger them for the third.
Charlie Brooker, The Guardian, 14th May 2005