The Thick of It

The Thick Of It has triumphed at the British Comedy Awards this week.

The BBC political satire series claimed wins for both of its leading cast members Peter Capaldi (Best Comedy Actor) and Rebecca Front (Best Comedy Actress).

The new Sky Atlantic comedy from Julia Davis, Hunderby, claimed two awards, winning Best Sitcom and Best New Comedy Programme.

Lucy Lumsden, BSkyB head of Comedy, said: “I told Julia, ‘I’ll commission the next thing you deliver. Give us a script in a month and we’ll commission it’. Hunderby built to the end of its run through word of mouth. At Sky we can do things which might be uncommissionable elsewhere.” Continue reading »

9:45pm Saturday 20 October on BBC TWO

The award-winning, seven-part political comedy series The Thick Of It continues tonight with a one-hour special. In episode six, everyone has a lot of questions to answer about the suicide of a key-worker after his flat was sold off – Government, Opposition and Civil Service alike.

Lord Goolding is reputedly a fair man, but he isn’t going to stand for any nonsense. And neither is his team of expert inquisitors. Surely now, the truth will come out. Unless someone lies, or creates a diversion of some kind, or simply pretends not to remember anything. They wouldn’t do that, would they?

The cast includes Roger Allam, Rebecca Front, Peter Capaldi, Vincent Franklin, Geoffrey Streatfeild, Chris Addison, Joanna Scanlan, James Smith, Olivia Poulet, Will Smith and Ben Willbond.

Devised and directed by Armando Iannucci. Produced by Adam Tandy

Ep 6/7

9:45pm Saturday 13 October on BBC TWO

Armando Iannucci’s award-winning, seven part political comedy series The Thick Of It continues. In episode five, with Nicola Murray and Peter Mannion both on the back foot after the unravelling of the key-worker housing sell-off policy, there’s inevitably going to be a scramble for the moral high-ground while the smelly floodwater of scandal is lapping round their toes.

In fact, several people are calling for some sort of inquiry. Everyone wants to spin the story, and everyone wants their own version of the story out there, by fair means or foul. But as more and more fingers get pointed, the bigger the scandal becomes, finally threatening to implicate everybody. And in amongst it all, the department is trying to launch the new Carers Pass

The cast includes Roger Allam, Rebecca Front, Peter Capaldi, Vincent Franklin, Geoffrey Streatfeild, Chris Addison, Joanna Scanlan, James Smith, Olivia Poulet, Will Smith, Ben Willbond and Rebecca Gethings.

Directed by Chris Addison. Devised and produced by Armando Iannucci. Produced by Adam Tandy

Ep 5/7

10:00pm Saturday 29 September on BBC TWO

Armando Iannucci’s award-winning, seven-part political comedy series The Thick Of It continues. In episode four, with Nicola safely on a train to attend the party’s ‘Here 2 Hear’ in far-flung Bradford, Malcolm is free to launch his latest plot.

But how is Olly going to be able to help, given that he’s in St Thomas’ Hospital with a burst appendix? And what will Ben Swain’s price be for playing along with the scheme? More than a bar of chocolate, that’s for sure. And when Nicola finds out what’s going on, can she control the situation from a seat in standard class right under the watchful eye of Sky News? Or is she sitting on the fast train to Nowheresville, West Yorkshire?

The cast includes Roger Allam, Rebecca Front, Peter Capaldi, Vincent Franklin, Geoffrey Streatfeild, Chris Addison, Joanna Scanlan, James Smith, Olivia Poulet, Will Smith, Ben Willbond and Rebecca Gethings.

Devised and produced by Armando Iannucci. Produced by Adam Tandy

Ep 4/7

9:55pm Saturday 22 September on BBC TWO

Armando Iannucci’s award-winning, seven part political comedy series The Thick Of It continues. In episode three, No. 10′s spin doctor Stewart Pearson is running ‘Thought Camp’ at a remote country house hotel, as the perfect way to re-engage the party with the creative cloudscape. No phones, no iPads.

Peter Mannion can definitely think of better ways of spending the Easter weekend than ‘imagineering’ with Stewart, Emma and a bunch of back-benchers and party workers. Meanwhile, Phil is surprised to find the ministerial offices less than deserted. Glenn is there, working on the Fourth Sector backlog, Fergus and his advisor Adam are meeting with a young, attractive economist who wants to start a bank. Then all political hell is let loose when an unexpected and tragic news story breaks.

The cast includes Roger Allam, Rebecca Front, Peter Capaldi, Vincent Franklin, Geoffrey Streatfeild, Chris Addison, Joanna Scanlan, James Smith, Olivia Poulet, Will Smith, Ben Willbond and Rebecca Gethings.

Devised and produced by Armando Iannucci. Produced by Adam Tandy

Ep 3/7

9:55pm Saturday 15 September on BBC TWO

Armando Iannucci’s award-winning, seven-part political comedy series continues tonight. The cast includes Roger Allam, Rebecca Front, Peter Capaldi, Vincent Franklin, Geoffrey Streatfeild, Chris Addison, Joanna Scanlan, James Smith, Olivia Poulet, Will Smith, Ben Willbond, Rebecca Gethings and Tony Gardner.

In episode two, it’s a busy day for Nicola Murray MP (Rebecca Front), who is mostly trying to tell her left foot from her right with the help of her new policy advisor, Helen Hatley (Rebecca Gethings). When Helen is accidentally photographed holding embarrassing notes from Nicola’s ideas meeting, Nicola and her media strategist Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) are less than happy. But then Nicola is already stressed by having an eight foot pork chop follow her about, and being attacked by the rest of the shadow cabinet for endorsing unpopular policies. And, even worse, her rival Dan Miller MP (Tony Gardner) seems to be getting on very well with Malcolm.

Devised and produced by Armando Iannucci. Produced by Adam Tandy

Ep 2/7

9:45pm Saturday 8 September on BBC TWO

Government embarrassment, ministerial cock-up, Coalition rows, backroom deals, policy U-turns, spin-doctoring, political back-stabbing, wild media speculation, and more time spent with one’s family – it can only be the eagerly anticipated return of Armando Iannucci’s award-winning political comedy series.

Roger Allam returns as Peter Mannion MP, the new Secretary of State for The Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship (DoSAC), supported by his team of special advisors, commanded by Number 10′s Director of Communications Stewart Pearson (Vincent Franklin) and thwarted by his new Coalition partner, DOSAC’s Junior Minister Fergus Williams MP (Geoffrey Streatfeild).

Also back are Nicola Murray MP and foul-mouthed spin doctor Malcolm Tucker, in roles reprised by Bafta award winners Rebecca Front and Peter Capaldi. Both are now consigned to Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, but still desperately hoping for a return to power. The ensemble cast is completed by Chris Addison, Joanna Scanlan, James Smith, Olivia Poulet, Will Smith, Ben Willbond, and Rebecca Gethings.

In the first episode of this seven-part series, tensions are running high in DoSAC. It is launch day for ‘Silicon Playgrounds’, the Coalition’s new digital youth policy master-minded by Junior Minister Fergus Williams. Number 10′s spin doctor Stewart Pearson delivers the bombshell that the PM wants digital-illiterate Peter Mannion to launch the policy, rather than Fergus. What could possibly go wrong with that? All Fergus gets left with is drawing up the list of staff redundancies, and Terri Coverley is pretty sure she can make his hit list if she plays her cards right, finding help from an unexpected direction.

Devised and produced by Armando Iannucci. Produced by Adam Tandy

Ep 1/7

Armando Iannucci has fired a couple of shots at the Americans who remade his political staire The Thick Of It in the US.

The 48-year-old acted as an executive producer on the remake but quickly distanced himself from it after ABC rejected the pilot.

He described it as “terrible … conventionally shot and there was no improvisation or swearing.”

He told Radio Times this week: “The mistake is to think that because America has this tremendous influence internationally, therefore all Americans are brilliant. Continue reading »

BBC Two announced today that Armando Iannucci’s award-winning political comedy series The Thick Of It will return for a new series on BBC Two.

Series four of The Thick Of It is a BBC In-house production that is produced and devised by Armando Iannucci, comprising seven 30-minute episodes to air this autumn on BBC Two.

Government embarrassment, ministerial cock-up, Coalition rows, backroom deals, policy U-turns, spin-doctoring, political back-stabbing, wild media speculation, and more time spent with one’s family, it can only be the eagerly anticipated return of The Thick Of It. Continue reading »

The Thick Of It returning to BBC Two

Armando Iannucci’s political comedy The Thick Of It will return to BBC Two for a fourth season later this year. A new run of seven 30-minute episodes has been ordered.

Solomon to film new comedy pilot

Stacey Solomon will film a taster reel for a new comedy show in the same vein as Curb Your Enthusiasm and Grandma’s House. Continue reading »