The Thick Of It

Iannucci in talks with HBO over US Thick of It

Comedy writer and director Armando Iannucci has re-entered talks with HBO to create a US version of BBC political satire The Thick of It.

The 2007 special edition of the black political satire is packed with blood-drawingly sharp observations and ruthless, brilliant dialogue. And a lot of laughs. We eavesdrop on Peter Mannion (Roger Allam) a bemused politician who wonders if he's out of step with the modern world. Can he still call yobboes 'yobboes', for instance? Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) and his ferocious sidekick Jamie (Paul Higgins) and back too (hooray!) with language that would make a northern rugby league team blush.

All change for Thick of It cast?

One thing Armando Iannucci may well be doing is sitting at a desk somewhere writing the new series of The Thick of It. Which, in the wake of In the Loop, is going to be massively anticipated, unspeakably brilliant and, more importantly, extremely confusing. Because while In the Loop's furious and profane Malcolm Tucker and even more furious sidekick Jamie have just helped start a war, the rest of The Thick of It's band of spineless miscreants were conspicuous in their absence.

The Thick of It to return

A further eight episodes of BBC satirical comedy The Thick of It are in the pipeline, creator Armando Iannucci has confirmed. Iannucci said in an update today on social networking site Twitter that he was working on eight new scripts.

Think Yes Minister on speed - and that includes the cameraman. But lurching around with hand-held cameras is all part of the modern mockumentary, a reminder that this is on-the-fly comedy rather than a contrived sitcom. The result here is brilliant, if you can live with a slight headache.

Jim Hacker lives in the form of hapless Minister for Social Affairs Hugh Abbot (Chris Langham) but with more sweary bits. And while Sir Humphrey Appleby was all oily charm, Abbot's advisers (James Smith and Chris Addison) are more bumbling and insecure.

But nowhere in Yes Minister was there anyone like splenetic chief political adviser Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), clearly modelled on Tony Blair's spinmeister, Alastair Campbell.

I have to confess to having been a bit slow to catch on to The Thick of It. A lot of things about it put me off - Peter Capaldi for a start, and the overly naturalistic faux documentary style, but I have to concede it is simply brilliant. In truth it's been a shit year for comedy but "a tete-a-tiny-tete" almost made up for it.

In The Thick of It Special, all things seemed possible - even the Cillit Bang guy as PM.

The Thick of It Special: Spinners and Losers (BBC4) is a savoury mix of humiliation, abuse, terror, male genitalia and the comic possibilities of the word "fuck". The script sounds the way a goose looks taking off, funny and off the cuff.

The treat of the night was The Thick of It (BBC 4), a firework display of testosterone and undeleted expletives.

I will really miss The Thick of It (BBC4). It was the sort of show which got you a seat on the tube. If you thought about it, you started to laugh.

Yes yes yes minister

I waded through Footballers' Wives, Celebrity Love Island, Abi Titmuss: A Modern Day Morality Tale and Wife Swap USA before I saw The Thick of It. It was well worth the wade. I didn't know I could cackle like a witch discovering a fresh supply of eye of newt, but cackle I could. And cry until the tears dried on my cheeks.