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The Thick of It - with Armando Iannucci and Rebecca Front

Episode 2 of 6

Peter Fincham and Jon Plowman get the inside story of making The Thick Of It from Armando Iannucci and Rebecca Front. From 2020.

TV veterans Peter Fincham and Jon Plowman talk to the writers, producers, and performers behind Britain鈥檚 biggest TV comedy hits, and hear the inside story of how they brought their programmes to the screen.

In this episode, Peter and Jon talk to Armando Iannucci and Rebecca Front about their biting pollical satire The Thick Of It. Was Nicola Murray just a nice (if hapless) person, thrust into a nest of political vipers, or was she just as bad as the rest of them? Who came up with the line 鈥渁bout as much use as a marzipan dildo鈥? And who was Malcolm Tucker really based on? (It鈥檚 probably not who you think.)

With Peter and Jon as our guides, we鈥檒l take the opportunity to ask quite how they went about making a great bit of TV comedy. Who came up with it? How did it get written? We鈥檒l talk about the commissioning, the casting, and the reception the show received when it first aired.

We鈥檒l do our very best to winkle out some backstage secrets straight from the horse鈥檚 mouth, as we hear the unvarnished truth from the people who were there, and who put these iconic shows on the telly.

Contains very strong language.

Original The Thick Of It clips written by:

Jesse Armstrong
Sam Bain
Simon Blackwell
Rob Colley
Roger Drew
Dan Gaster
Sean Gray
Armando Iannucci
Georgia Pritchett
David Quantick
Tony Roche
Will Smith

Additional material: The Cast

Producer: Owen Braben

Made for 大象传媒 Radio 4 Extra by Expectation Productions, and first broadcast in May 2020.

5 months left to listen

1 hour

Broadcasts

  • Wed 20 May 2020 22:30
  • Thu 19 Aug 2021 23:00
  • Fri 11 Aug 2023 21:00
  • Fri 11 Aug 2023 23:30