The Thick of It

The brilliant Peter Capaldi as Malcolm Tucker
Image ©2012 BBC - all rights reserved

I was late in discovering the BBC’s The Thick of It, mainly as the few times that I had stumbled across it flicking channels I'd usually landed in the middle of one of Peter Capaldi's brilliant swear-word filled tirades as Malcolm Tucker, the government's Director of Communications. Landing in the middle of one of these is not something that really endears the programme to you, and I dismissed it as loud and sweary rubbish passing as comedy.

However, I ended up catching the first episode of Series 4 on TV one night – from the start – when Jill and the boys were in bed. I was hooked, realising that this was one series that you couldn't just drop into mid-episode. I've watched each episode since, through a variety of means (time shifted on PVR, iPlayer and live), and they have been gloriously full of swearing, politics and – in far too many ways – believability. I'm really sad that last night saw the final ever episode, dealing with the aftermath of the Goolding Inquiry (think spoof of Leveson) on leaking, and the demise of Malcolm Tucker.

However, now I have the DVDs of the first three series and specials to enjoy as a guilty pleasure and to compensate for the loss of this brilliant show. Contrary to my original thoughts, this is a fantastic counterpoint to Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.