I watched all six 30-minute eps of this show the other day. It’s a brilliant dissection of contemporary British politics’ obsession with spin (one of the main characters is clearly based on Alistair Campbell).
It’s basically Yes Minister meets The Office, and was devised and directed by Armando Iannucci, the comedy genius who was Chris Morris’ main collaborator in the early ’90s.
Chris Langham is perfect as the hapless Minister for Home Affairs. Langham is perhaps best known for playing (the voice of) Roy Mallard in the classic mockumentary series People Like Us. Apparently he also used to be a writer on The Muppet Show!
And now I discover that Langham has recently been arrested over child porn. Oh dear… What is it with the prurience of British celebrity culture?
Anyway – check out The Thick of It if you can – you’ll probably have to download it as it’s not on DVD yet, and like most good recent British TV comedy we’ll be lucky if it screens on Australian TV any time soon.