Ok as a slight change of pace in the reviews section of this blog (which is most of this blog's content) I thought I would cover something on the new series of The Thick of It, the critically acclaimed British comedy series that satirises the inner workings of the British government, created by the great Armando Iannucci. But at the heart of it all (for the lack of a better word) there is not much heart in these people as they are too busy try to screw each other over, its the ruthless world of politics, but its how they go about it that also makes it really entertaining. So here's a bit of a look at the show in general.
In the new series there have been some changes after the 3rd series ended, which now reflects the coalition government that we have just now between the Tories and the Lib Dems, and with the opposition now in power. And with that shift in power we see that Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) who was once the former Government's spin doctor, is relegated to Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, along with Nicola Murray (Rebecca Font, from the 3rd series), as well as Ollie Reeder (Chris Addison), the junior police advisor, and general lackey for Tucker. Malcolm Tucker from the previous series was well noted for his firey temperament and his use of expletives as he liked shout at and berate anyone who stood in his way or even if they didn't stand in his way!
And Peter Capaldi's brilliant performance as Malcolm Tucker plays a big factor in making the show work, as in the previous series (and most likely in this one) he carried a fair weight of the show, trying to keep everyone in line, he is basically the PM's enforcer and demands that the politicians in his charge walk the Government line. But along the way he has a deliciously entertaining way of doing as he releases a tirade of abuse at anyone near him, and there are simply too many lines to pick from, but one of my favourites from the past was when he berated Nicola Murray for pulling a stupid face in picture for a newspaper, where she was in a sack race. And Malcolm says to her that she had a face "like Dot Cotton licking piss off a nettle!" in the picture, there are of course plenty of other great one-liners such as "What's the fuckin matter with you?? You look like you shat a Lego garage!", "Listen, darling, I wouldn't piss on you if you were allergic to piss!", and of course one of my all time favs is where he yells at some one who asks him to stop swearing to which Malc replies "Oh I'm sorry we won't swear again, you massive GAY SHITE!!! Fuck off!!". And that's just tip of the big icy thing, and I'm sure there will be more brutal put downs on the way in the new series, although he is yet to appear, as he was not in the first episode strangley enough! And above all else Malcolm is also extremely duplicitous throughout the series and often manipulates people into doing what he wants, or to shaft those people that stand in his way.
There are of course other characters in the new series, most of them are already established, notably the opposition, starting with Peter Mannion (the great Roger Allam), who is promoted to the Secretary of State for the Department of work and social affairs and citizenship in the new series. Mannion is basically a bit of a bumbling fool, who in the first episode of the 4th series, gets himself into trouble with the press as he gives a press conference to a group of young people in promoting mobile apps for phones, but he clearly hasn't a clue how to present it, as he's a bit of an old fogey. Mannion quite often get's some great lines as well, and my favourite in the first episode last week was where he argues with his Junior minister, Fergus Williams MP (Geoffrey Stretfield) at Dosac and storms out of the room saying "I'm bored of this, I'm gonna get a twix!". Another priceless line in last week's episode came from one of the news editors who backs Fergus over his new policy, who is shafted by JB (equivalent of the Tories) party spin doctor Stewart (Vincent Franklin) and decides to let Mannion announce the policy instead. But Mannion goes on air and buggers it up, as he had not a clue about technology, and the new editor listening in says "God its as bad as putting his cock on his boss's wife's shoulders!".
Of the regular characters there is also Glen Cullen (James Smith), or "Sullen Cullen" as Ollie once called him, who is basically the voice of reason usually in the series. Glen is a middle aged man who is getting towards the end of his career, but he is the most politically savy person in the series, but there are times in the show where he is overlooked or ignored by the others such as Malcolm, Ollie or Terry (Joanna Scanlan), who put him down or bellittle because they look on him as a has-been. This actually causes Glen to have a bit of a meltdown in one of the 60 minute special episodes, where he yells "I'm not a joke! I AM A MAN!!!!!".
Ollie Reeder of course is another main character in the show that will also make a return on the side of the opposition. Ollie is of course a cocky yet inexperienced berk, who has ideas above his station, but most of the time he just inflicts sarcasm on anyone nearby him, and in the past is often used by Malcolm to do his dirty work. He also unwittingly can cause problems by leaking information to people when he shouldn't, which reflects his naivety. Ollie has his fair share of sarcastic lines, and despite being used by Malcolm constantly with little choice in the matter, he does occassionally stand up to him, although not that often. Ollie also regularly takes the piss out of Glen, and he is even prepared to sell him down the river in the Specials episodes where he turns his back on his own MP employer (at that time it was Hugh Abbott, Chris Langham from the first series). He is also akin to Malcolm, very quick to change sides and shaft people when he can get a chance, or as Terri calls him at one point as "morally bankrupt". Ollie does however though share a strangely affectionate relationship with Glen from time to time, and during the 3rd series where Glen tells Ollie that he's going to run to become an MP, Ollie is stunned and says "Its like learning your Dad is gay. I am strangely really proud of you!".
And then there is Nicola Murray, who came into the show on series 3, and replaced the original minster in the first series, Hugh Abbot (played then by the now disgraced actor Chris Langham). Nicola is also rather bumbling and often in the 3rd series makes many silly comments in the press, and blubs the wrong thing, with one example is when she inadvertently kick started a leadership bid for a female prime minster, by the way a short interview she gave for the BBC where she said "I think the prime minister is the right man for the job", but she would love for there to be a female PM in the future. Later on this backfires and Malcolm insists that she put it to right by going out to the press and saying she denies of this and insists she say that the PM is the man of the moment, but instead she goes out and says "he is the man for the moment". This leads to another great line from Malcolm who says to her "There is a difference between me saying, Nicola I would like to go for a lovely walk with you, and Nicola I would like to make a hat out of your fucking entrails!!".
There are of course other characters that are part of the opposition team, that include Emma Messinger (Olivier Poulet) who is Ollie's one time girlfriend, who was basically used by Malcolm to get information from her (so in effect Malc was pimping Ollie out!). Emma of course however in the past steals some of the other party's ideas and passes them off to the opposition so they can use them. Later on of course Emma splits up with Ollie as the two of them didn't really get on that well after a while, although she admits to her flatmate and co-worker, Phil (Will Smith) that she only went out with Ollie so long because he annoyed him.
Which brings me on to Will Smith as Phil, who is great as the man who is basically Peter Mannion's right hand, or more aptly his sychophantic arse-kissing aide. Phil constantly makes nerdy references to the Lord of the Rings, and he also get's some of the best lines in the show, one of which is I loved is when he argues with Ollie, as the two of them never see eye to eye, says "You are like the man who fucked the monkey that gave us AIDS", and also "We should be friends you and me, Ollie, I am like Faramir you are like Boromir, your horn is broken and will be blown no more!". And Ollie gives a great retort to this as he says "this inability to talk without using Lord of the rings metaphors is one of the many reasons we could never be friends!". And for me one of Will's funniest lines was when he watched, one of Malcolm's party ministers, Ben Swain, have a nervous blink when he is on Newsnight being interviewed by Jeremy Paxman, and Phil says "Its like watching a lion rape a sheep, but in a bad way!".
There are of course other smaller character roles, and one of the best ones, who hopefully could make another appearance later on is Jamie, who appeared in the first series and the specials. Jamie in the Specials episodes was the government press officer, and he displayed an even higher level of aggression that Malcolm Tucker did (which is saying something!) in forcing people to do what he needed done. Quite often though Jamie is basically Malcolm's pitbull, whom he unleashes when he really needs to, but Jamie get's some of the best dialogue of the entire show. One or two examples for starters where he sits in a car with a poltician he is backing to run for being PM and he asks him "are you fucking horse? No you're not a horse! You are a stocking horse, and we are gonna ram you so far up Tom's arse he's going to have to shit out of a lying mouth!". Another is when he threatens Ollie who slags him off for loving Al Jolson, "If you take the piss out of Al Jolson again, then I'm going to take your tiny nano-pod from its tiny nano sheath and I'm going to push it up your cock! And then I'm gonna plug some speakers in your arse and put it on shuffle with my fucking fist! And when something comes on I don't like, which will be every time, I will skip to the next track by crushing your balls!". Jamie was hilarious and perhaps he works better in minimal doses but I hope they do bring him back as he was great in the show.
And finally we will probably see the return of Julius, the Rt honourable Lord Nicholson of Arnage (played by the great Alex MacQueen), who was the former prime minister's aide, and in the 3rd series we see he has been given a peerage (hence his title). Julius is a very pompous, posh soft spoken character, who during the series is also rather duplicitous on difference occassions, as in the Specials episodes he leaks inside information to the press. He also helps Malcolm back into his job, after he was fired, by making a certain report go away that had bad implications for Malc. Julius had quite a few great lines in the show, but my favourite probably is when he gets among a big row between Glen and Ollie, and he drops a pack of biscuits on the floor, and he says "God's sake! What are you doing?? These are good biscuits and they cost four pounds!".
Soooooo that's that for a quick look at the Thick of It for now. The new series continues on Saturday nights on BBC2 so I might post up one or two more entries on it.
But for now that'll do her.
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