The Thick of It

The Thick of It
Genre
Created byArmando Iannucci
Written by
Directed by
Starring
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series4
No. of episodes23 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Jon Plowman (s. 1–2)
  • Armando Iannucci (s. 3)
  • Andy Forssell (s. 4)
Producers
EditorsAnt Boys
Billy Sneddon
Running time29 minutes
Production companyBBC
Original release
Network
Release19 May 2005 (2005-05-19) –
27 October 2012 (2012-10-27)
Related
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The Thick of It is a British comedy television series created, written and directed by Armando Iannucci that satirises the inner workings of British government. It was first broadcast for two short series on BBC Four in 2005, initially with a small cast focusing on a government minister, his advisers and their party's spin-doctor. The cast was significantly expanded for two hour-long specials to coincide with Christmas and Gordon Brown's appointment as prime minister in 2007, which saw new characters forming the opposition party added to the cast. These characters continued when the show switched channels to BBC Two for its third series in 2009. A fourth series about a coalition government was broadcast in 2012, with the last episode transmitted on 27 October 2012.[1][2]

The series has been described as the 21st century's answer to Yes Minister. It highlights the struggles and conflicts between politicians, party spin doctors, advisers, civil servants and the media. In similar fashion to Yes Minister, the political parties involved are never mentioned by name, and in series 1 and 2 most policies discussed are fairly generic and non-ideological. Iannucci describes it as "Yes Minister meets Larry Sanders".[3] Journalist and former civil servant Martin Sixsmith was an adviser to the writing team, adding to the realism of some scenes.[3] The series became well known for its profanity and for featuring storylines which have mirrored, or in some cases predicted, real-life policies, events or scandals.[4][5][6][7]

A feature film spin-off, In the Loop, was released in the UK on 17 April 2009. A pilot for a U.S. remake of the show was unsuccessful, but Iannucci was subsequently invited to create Veep for HBO, a programme with a very similar tone and political issues, with the involvement of some The Thick of It writers and production members.

  1. ^ Mellor, Louisa (19 October 2012). "The Thick of It series 4 to be its last". Den of Geek. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  2. ^ Urquhart, Conal (1 September 2012). "Armando Iannucci turns satirical eye on Silicon Valley". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference interview was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Roger Drew, "A whole new power struggle: Plot twists and profanity behind new series of The Thick of It", The Independent, 1 September 2012
  5. ^ The Thick of It: top 10 Malcolm Tucker moments", The Guardian, 15 October 2009
  6. ^ Stewart Heritage, Have you been watching...The Thick of It?, The Guardian, 17 October 2012
  7. ^ John Plunkett, The Thick of It: 'it feels more like politicians copy us', The Guardian, 22 August 2012