A thread for 'The Thick Of It' (and 'In The Loop' as well)

Still haven't watched this again (this show basically demands to be watched at least twice) but I don't recall Malcolm engaging in a single "creative swearing" session at all? Until the end obv.

It will be very interesting if they have an entire episode without him.

Thanks to the BBC running this series at the same time as Match of the Day, I've missed almost all of this

The DOSAC guys will be desperate to have Malcolm back by next week I think. Think Nicola was already thinking it was better to be outright bollocked by Malcolm than smarmed into doing something by an obsequious twat like Steve Fleming.

Actually the dude playing Fleming was brilliant - that constant manic smile at all times even when really angry!

Wow.
Also, Malcolm Tucker has my wallpaper!

― Not the real Village People, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 02:58

Malcolm also had Chris Eubank's and Murray Walker's autobios on his shelf

I don't recall Malcolm engaging in a single "creative swearing" session at all?

Yeah his losing of plot/control coincided with the smart crude zings becoming boring profanities. Good bit of writing, I thought. Not sure I like my comedies becoming tense dramas mid-series but as tense dramas go it was very watchable.

Not liking Thin Blue Line dude :(

malcolm had some kids paintings on his office wall, what's that about? funny that his (attractive) secretary was so sweet on him (i guess they were firing her too then?)

Malcolm's unlikely to be bollocking his own secretary as much as hapless civil servants and MPs I would imagine, because she isn't doing very much that's public facing.

Not liking Thin Blue Line dude :(
Yeah, I thought he stood out as pretty pre-watershed sitcom-ish, not in keeping with the either the (semblance of) naturalism that everyone else seems to be bringing to their performances or the fly-on-the-wall style camerawork. Found him to be totally jarring, tbh.

he stood out as pretty pre-watershed sitcom-ish

thanks, you've perfectly articulated what it was that was annoying me but that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

for me the problem was he was so repulsive i don't particularly want to see any more of him

i thought he was terrific. as someone returning to the scene with a major agenda his ill fit with the rest of the cast actually worked for me.

that's what i thought was good about him!

he should be jarring: he's a figure from another era.

xposts

I agree he should be a jarring character but he struck me as too much of a comedy actor doing comedy acting and was unconvincing as a vindictive sneering political player. I think he was badly cast rather than badly written.

I dunno, I really didn't find him any less convincingly sociopathic than Malcolm. The intensity he projected was really unnerving when set against his cartoon character face.

Brilliant episode, but kinda predictable after last week, no?

A government doesn't spiral out of control like that in the course of a day, so it kind of had to be predictable.

i wasn't sure about the first two episodes and actually stopped watching, but i can see that they're trying to move away from comedy, to a extent. all the stuff about the mp's kid just isn't funny and isn't meant to be. and for some reason i identify with malcolm and feel really bad for him.

I think he was badly cast rather than badly written

But without him we wouldn't have had the "he looks like a lego policeman" line, which was perfect.

Super Mario was even more choice.

malcolm had some kids paintings on his office wall, what's that about?

He's mentioned a niece a few times, presumably hers.

My friend who who used to work at the Home Office told me last night she doesn't like TTOI because it's 'not realistic'. Huh. I told her she wasn't realistic.

A lesser bollocker would have, eg, picked on Terri's weight for an insult, but they never have that I can remember

pretty sure he has, tbh.

he told her to put her tits away or similar wrt peter mannion's visit

yeah but that's cause she got all slutted up innit

he's usually pretty inventive ("the little man in the red and yellow car" and "shitehead revisited" are probably my favourite two this series). he'll go there sometimes but this fleming guy is just old-school chauvinist and not a wordsmith.

malcolm's flat was lovely

Fucking snooker had better get to fuck in the next 20 minutes.

bravo

great to hear armando talking about the next series in such concrete terms, too

where was he talking about the next series?

comedy awards

i liked that they gave the part of probably the nastiest character we've ever seen on the show ('the fucker') in tonight's episode to tom hollander who seemed to be the silliest and most hapless in the thick of it/loop world. fantastic bit of acting as he made me feel queasy very quickly. shame he wasn't in it more as an entire episode of him would be apalling in a good wway.

There was a hint of what he was capable of in that department when he went off on Toby for showing up late and hung over to his meeting at the State Department. A spitting aggressiveness paired with a weird soft neediness that is very unsettling.

I will admit feeling a little let down. It seemed too easy after the cliffhanger last week. Still terrific, obviously. Favorite line is probably "It's a show for people who tried coke once but didn't like it. Well, that's a bullshit description but you know what I mean."

where was he talking about the next series?

There was a mini-doc on the red button too, where they usually have the deleted scenes.

no jamie in this series ;(((

Julius was fucking brilliant in this episode.

the onion bahji bit had me it stitches

Yeah. the punchline, which the whole bit was building to, was just perfect. These actors must freaking love getting to play these scripts. What a feast.

a feast of onion bahjis

did iannuci say anything about when the next series will be broadcast? are they going to wait to see who wins the general election?

It makes dramatic sense for the next series to focus on fighting the election... Which would require a pretty quick turnaround.

Also The Fucker has obviously been set up as the main antagonist for next series. Can't wait to see him and Malcolm clash.

from what i can make out, iannucci is doing a show for hbo, and my surmise is, it'll be a TTOI-style thing set in the us dept of treasury. but he has said there'll be more UK TTOI. an election special would be great but idk if they could pull it together, and he doesn't seem to have said one way or another.

i get the feeling that tom hollander is hot-ish property and im not sure he'd be a major player in another full series. though that would be great.

in the past, such as they have one, they've kind of skipped over the major political events (or at least shown only the foreplay). i wouldn't be surprised to see them skip the election, kind of like how entourage never shows the movies being made.

i get the feeling that tom hollander is hot-ish property and im not sure he'd be a major player in another full series. though that would be great.

― Smokey and the S'Banned It (history mayne), Sunday, December 13, 2009 11:50 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

my sentiments exactly

really loved this movie

did the programme get broadcast in the U.S. at all? do we have any fans of that on this thread?

Think we're more likely to get two longer specials than a full series. The tension between new psycho tabloid Tory boss and touchy-feely Tory dude could be fun as well. Loved the floppy-haired twat running after the new big man as well.

i watched series 1 and the specials over the weekend too by the way. i love how many times the floppy haired one mentions things are "like queen" or "like freddie".

Think we're more likely to get two longer specials than a full series.

there's also chatter about an alan partridge film so yeah.

and also another series of 'charm offensive' -- putting that in the calendar fo sho *cough*.

tbh i think this last ep should have been a long one, with malc out of the running for a while longer. half an hour felt like too little, though i loved the in-at-the-last-minute-ness of The Fucker.

did the programme get broadcast in the U.S. at all? do we have any fans of that on this thread?

― caek, Sunday, December 13, 2009 6:58 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i dont think it got broadcast in the US but i torrented it and love it, even if i only understand like 60%

i understand maybe 40% btw capaldis accent and the britishisms but what i do get is rofl

― max, Friday, July 24, 2009 10:24 AM (4 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

looks like my understanding has increased by 50%

i was kind of skeptical of the actress who played nicola in the first couple episodes but she really knocked it out of the park at the end didnt she