The Thick of It
Episode 1
TV Flash files “Episode 1” as a desk essential hour — The Thick of It (2005–2012) on BBC, season 3, episode 1, aired 2009-10-24, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E01: listed hour 7 of 21 in the The Thick of It guide, first listed hour of season 3. It aired 2009-10-24 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Episode 3” (S02E03). Next is “Episode 2” (S03E02).
Essential hour: “Episode 1”. Series-three Episode 1 is the long-gap return: Iannucci's Whitehall still a kill floor, Tucker still the show's only functioning fire alarm.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
It's reshuffle day at Number 10 and there's a new face on the show. When the job at the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship is rejected by all the other candidates, there is no option but to promote unknown MP Nicola Murry to the Cabinet. Spin-doctor Malcolm soon puts her in her place then there's an unfortunate poster launch that brings things crashing down for their PR.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Episode 1 sit in the The Thick of It guide?
S03E01 is listed hour 7 of 21 — first listed hour of season 3, season 3 episode 1.
When did The Thick of It S03E01 air?
Episode 1 aired 2009-10-24 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Do I watch The Thick of It or Veep first?
This is the BBC ancestor: Iannucci, Capaldi's Tucker, spin doctors as blood sport. Veep is the later American wiring from the same comedy brain.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Spin doctors and ministers thrash through crises while Peter Capaldi's Malcolm Tucker invents new ways to swear a career into dust. The Thick of It is Armando Iannucci's bureaucracy as blood sport — documentary blur, verbal artillery, and the writers' room that later wired Veep.
The silhouette is a hallway and a man who can end a career with a sentence. Armando Iannucci's The Thick of It (2005–2012) dresses UK political satire as documentary blur: Peter Capaldi's Malcolm Tucker as verbal artillery, Chris Langham, Rebecca Front, Chris Addison, Joanna Scanlan, ministers and spin doctors thrashing through crises, swearing as the only tailored accessory that fits. Bureaucracy as blood sport. Handheld grammar that makes a memo feel like an ambush. Four seasons, 21 episodes. Direct creative…
Filed against
- Peter Capaldi as Malcolm Tucker
Peter Capaldi’s Malcolm Tucker invented new ways to swear a career into dust on The Thick of It — Armando Iannucci’s 2000s bureaucracy as blood sport, spin doctors and ministers thrashing through crises, documentary blur, verbal…
- Chris Langham as Hugh Abbot
Chris Langham played Hugh Abbot on The Thick of It — a minister thrashing through crises while Peter Capaldi's Malcolm Tucker invents new ways to swear a career into dust. Armando Iannucci's bureaucracy as blood sport, documentary blur,…
- Rebecca Front as Nicola Murray
Rebecca Front plays Nicola Murray on The Thick of It, Armando Iannucci’s 2000s bureaucracy as blood sport — spin doctors and ministers thrashing through crises while Malcolm Tucker invents new ways to swear a career into dust. Documentary…
- Chris Addison as Ollie Reeder
Chris Addison played Ollie Reeder on The Thick of It — spin doctors and ministers thrashing through crises while Peter Capaldi's Malcolm Tucker invents new ways to swear a career into dust. Armando Iannucci's bureaucracy as blood sport,…
- Joanna Scanlan as Terri Coverley
Joanna Scanlan’s Terri Coverley made The Thick of It feel like actual Whitehall — civil-service panic under Peter Capaldi’s Malcolm Tucker, documentary blur, verbal artillery. Armando Iannucci’s bureaucracy as blood sport needed a face…