Wednesday 11th November 2009

The brilliant BBC sitcom The Thick Of It made a welcome return to form in Saturday's episode.
The award winning political comedy, now in its second series, had been the subject of critical reviews by The Times and The Guardian, but I think the third episode of the series recaptured the wit and genius that was very slightly lacking from the first two episodes of this series. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed every bit of the second series, but like so many other successful and popular sitcoms it had so much to live up to from it's introductory series.
For those of you not familiar with Armando Ianucci's latest hit, The Thick Of It follows the drama in the fictional government Department of Social Affairs. Every week, a different catastrophe happens and its up to the minister and his or her special advisers to clear up the mess or incur the wrath of Director of Communications Malcolm Tucker, who is modelled heavily on Alastair Campbell.
For example, episode two of the new series saw minister Nicola Murray find out her department had lost the immigration records of 170,672 people. And in the episode which was shown last Saturday, the minister prepares her speech for the annual party conference by trying to exploit the situation of Julie Price, a widow the department want to use as their photo opportunity and "people's champion", but of course, things don't exactly go to plan.
What I love about The Thick Of It is the razor sharp dialogue which takes swearing to a whole new level. Malcolm Tucker, played by Peter Capaldi, swears in almost every line, but does it with such wit that it almost becomes a form of art. Tucker is one of the greatest comedy characters to hit our screens lately and has been the biggest success of the show. The Guardian have even compiled a list of his top ten quotes from the first series and the Spinners and Losers Special.
I also like the embarrassing situations which the Department of Social Affairs get themselves into week after week. whilst watching it I can't help but feel that most of the episodes are exaggerated parodies of messy incidents this New Labour government have got themselves into over the last twelve years.
In my opinion, The Thick Of It is the best comedy since The Office. It may not be to everyone's liking, but if you like fly-on-the-wall "mockumentaries" and politics, then chances are you'll love this programme and its spin off film In The Loop (see blog entry from 24th August).
The second series of The Thick Of It continues with the fourth episode on Saturday at 10:10PM on BBC2.