Main News Stories About 'The Thick Of It':

• The final series of The Thick Of It? (02/09/12)
• BBC confirms The Thick Of It Series 4 details (12/07/12)

Peter Capaldi: Thick Of It shouldn't return for a while

The Thick Of It star Peter Capaldi has said he doesn't think the show should return to the air anytime soon.

Metro, 14th May 2013

Peter Capaldi on life after The Thick of It

Peter Capaldi has a solemn announcement to make: Malcolm is no more.

The Scotsman, 24th March 2013

Chris Addison on Veep, the US cousin of The Thick of It

Working as a director on Sky Atlantic's Veep has made Chris Addison, star of The Thick of It, view US television with new eyes.

Written by Chris Addison. The Sunday Telegraph, 17th February 2013

The last full series of Armando Iannucci's blistering satire brought us a coalition government, carrying an innefectual junior partner and fighting a weak, disorganised opposition. But aside from the contemporary echoes, the show stuck to what's been its central point all along: that so much modern politics is a series of PR stunts and botches, conceived not to make the world better but to get or keep power. The hour-long inquiry episode was riveting, Roger Allam shone as the newly empowered (in theory) Peter Mannion, and Peter Capaldi's fearsome spin doctor Malcolm Tucker bowed out in a final episode to rank with any sitcom finale.

Jack Seale, Radio Times, 28th December 2012

The Thick of It: the TV programme of 2012

The satire came to a glorious climax, and went from being cathartic to prophetic.

Written by Mark Lawson. The Guardian, 21st December 2012

Knowing when to end a show is one of the most difficult things for TV writers and stars, but Armando Iannucci got it just right with this fourth and final series of The Thick Of It.

The political satire remained razor sharp, Malcolm Tucker remains one of the most incredible TV creations of all time ("You don't know Jackie f***ing Chan about me") and the penultimate Goolding Inquiry episode - which couldn't have been any more timely - was a brave and bold twist to the show's magic formula, which paid off brilliantly.

We'll keep our fingers crossed that Tucker may return for one (or two) final specials in years to come, but if this really is the end, then what a stunning way to bow out.

Alex Fletcher, Digital Spy, 17th December 2012

Peter Capaldi: Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie love TTOI

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie love spin doctor Malcolm Tucker's four-letter rants in The Thick Of It, says Peter Capaldi.

The Sun, 14th December 2012

Omnishambles: my unlikely accolade

I never thought my late tweak to the script of The Thick of It would catch on. But the word has mutated omnieverywhere.

Written by Tony Roche. The Guardian, 16th November 2012

Omnishambles gets OED word of the year award

The Thick Of It's 'omnishambles' word has been awarded word of the year status by the Oxford English Dictionary.

Written by Tim Clark. Such Small Portions, 13th November 2012

Sadly it was the final episode of possibly the last ever series of The Thick of It (Saturday, BBC Two). After a strange interlude in which the regular characters went before a select committee - a scenario which they didn't really play for laughs - it was back to the verbal gymnastics we know and love. Iannucci has a gift for putting into Malcolm Tucker's mouth similes and metaphors of great originality, ones which manage to shock and amuse at the same time.

It looks like Malcolm is going to prison for perjury, with Ollie Reeder, the young pretender, taking over his throne. The joke was that Tucker couldn't get arrested, literally, because every police station he reported to had a backlog due to Home Office incompetence.

Tucker had planned an exit for himself that would be worthy of a Shakespearean tragic hero, but things didn't quite go his way. Standing on the steps of a police station about to address a waiting mob of journalists you expected him to explode. Instead, more poignantly, he hesitated and said: "It doesn't matter."

Nigel Farndale, The Sunday Telegraph, 4th November 2012

So farewell then to BBC2's The Thick Of It. And a special '****ety-bye' to Peter Capaldi's Malcolm Tucker. We will probably never see their like on TV again.

If I was being picky I might say I would have preferred it if Tucker had bowed out with the penultimate episode's withering government inquiry speech. But now is not the time for being picky. Now is the time to order the box set.

Ian Hyland, The Daily Mail, 3rd November 2012

Armando Iannucci's Thick of It bows out with 750,000

The Thick of It's last ever episode drew a fairly modest audience on Saturday night, early data shows.

Written by Paul Millar. Digital Spy, 30th October 2012

"So, now I have to step into your shoes, but after you've shat in them," said Ollie in the last Thick of It, learning that his first task as Malcolm's stand-in was to spin the arrest of his predecessor on charges of perjury. Malcolm didn't think Ollie was going to be able to fill those shoes, though. "You're not even Manchester's top Malcolm Tucker tribute band," he roared before a meltdown that combined blistering invective with genuine melancholy and pain. Glenn got a lot of things off his chest too, in an episode that ended on the implication that, while some cogs had gone, the machine rumbles on regardless. I hope this is not the end.

Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent, 29th October 2012

TV Review: The Thick Of It finale

As Malcolm Tucker would say, it was "just another day at the f***-office". Can there really be no more?

Written by Caroline Frost. The Huffington Post, 28th October 2012

When a chief whip on a bike is caught behaving out of order, when a prime minister is accidentally heard calling someone a bigot, or when a chancellor of the exchequer is spotted fare-dodging on a train, there is only one thing to say: "It is just like The Thick of It!" we cry.

But with the end last night of the final series of the acclaimed BBC sitcom, an intriguing question remains; how long will the phrase survive in common British parlance? Will it go on to join long-defunct sitcoms such as Grange Hill and Steptoe and Son to become a part of the national psyche?

Signs look good, since the show quickly took over from Yes, Minister, the political sitcom that inspired it, once frequently used to describe the chicanery of civil service mandarins.

Former Observer columnist Armando Iannucci's show represented its era with uncanny accuracy, aping the spineless manoeuvring and ruthless spinning of its targets with little need for caricature.

It is fair then to assume that Malcolm Tucker will live on at least as long as naughty Tucker from Grange Hill.

The Observer, 28th October 2012

Fans bid a final farewell to The Thick Of It

Simon Pia, former top spin doctor for ex-Scottish Labour leaders Iain Gray and Wendy Alexander, says he has noticed an increase in political press officers adopting the mannerisms of Tucker.

Written by Victoria Weldon. Herald Scotland, 27th October 2012

The Thick Of It series 4 episode 7 review

So. Farewell, then. Malcom Tucker. And farewell to perhaps the finest comedy series of the past decade.

Written by Jake Laverde. Den of Geek, 27th October 2012

The Thick Of It to bow out in typically sweary fashion

Tonight's final episode of The Thick Of It turns the air blue as we say goodbye to its foul-mouthed regulars.

Written by Sarah Deen. Metro, 27th October 2012

The Thick of It: lines of the week - episode seven

What was (probably) the last ever episode of The Thick of It was also one of funniest and most startling ever, and I'm missing the show already. Tell us your favourite lines from this brutal finale.

Written by Stuart Heritage. The Guardian, 27th October 2012

When all's said and done, what better way could there be for The Thick of It to end than with business as usual? After all, as the final series has progressed, the show has taken on an angrier tone, emphasising the sense that something in our political process is irreparably broken. Why should an inquiry make any difference, even if it did damn practically everyone involved? As we rejoin the gang, it's clear they've learned nothing. Discredited DoSAC is now a dumping ground for sundry government problems. This calls for another round of firefighting plus more of the customary obfuscation, petty points-scoring and casual workplace bullying. Any redemption? Any surprise heroes? Well, certain individuals come out of this finale better than others, but what really feels remarkable as this brilliant show concludes is how utterly compelling a series can be when it's peopled entirely by loathsome characters.

Phil Harrison, Time Out, 27th October 2012

A sad farewell to Malcolm Tucker

Alastair Campbell will be very happy to see the back of The Thick of It's Malcolm Tucker.

Written by Matthew Norman. The Telegraph, 27th October 2012

Fallout from last week's inquiry is inevitable, particularly when we saw Malcolm as we've never seen him before: hunted, on the run and lost for words. So, as the series ends, everyone at DoSac is feeling the pressure of the revelations into the Tickell debacle/tragedy.

Communications are clipped to nonexistent as the government's problems continue. In one last desperate throw of the dice, Malcolm (Peter Capaldi) sends shiny Dan Miller on a fact-finding mission.

Alison Graham, Radio Times, 27th October 2012

So farewell then Malcolm Tucker, a prince of darkness for whom the term spin doctor doesn't quite seem sufficient. Spin surgeon general would be a better title. Yes, it's the end of the line for peerless political satire The Thick Of It. The campaign to make Armando Iannucci do a U-turn on that decision starts here.

Keith Watson, Metro, 27th October 2012

Armando Iannucci: Ending will leave you wanting more

Armando Iannucci has promised The Thick Of It fans that the final ever series of the political satire will leave them craving more - and he's even hinted that there might be more to come.

Metro, 27th October 2012

Chris Addison: Fuckety-Bye To All That

And so at last we come to the end of The Thick of It. The very end.

Written by Chris Addison. 26th October 2012