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| 8 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thickcastspecials.jpg]] |
| 9 | [[caption-width-right:350:[-Welcome to Whitehall. Please leave your principles at the door.-] ]] |
| 10 | |
| 11 | ->''"I'm a man of principle: I like to know whether I'm lying to save the skin of a tosser or a moron."'' |
| 12 | -->-- '''Malcolm Tucker''' |
| 13 | |
| 14 | {{Satir|e}}ical {{Brit|Com}}ish GovernmentProcedural produced by Adam Tandy and directed by Creator/ArmandoIannucci. Debuted in 2005. It is styled as a fly-on-the-wall view of the inner workings of [[UsefulNotes/BritishPoliticalSystem British politics]], with natural-sounding, partly {{improv}}ised dialogue and the use of [[JitterCam shaky hand-held cameras]]. Intended to be as [[SlidingScaleOfRealisticVersusFantastic realistic]] as possible, the writing team employs several UsefulNotes/{{Whitehall}} insiders and every aspect is meticulously researched, from the office décor to the levels of swearing. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | [[{{Understatement}} There is]] ''[[SirSwearsALot a lot]]'' [[ClusterFBomb of swearing]]. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | The show is essentially a [[SpiritualSuccessor 21st Century update]] of ''Series/YesMinister'', reflecting the changes the British political system has been through in the decades between the two shows, in particular the culture of spin ushered in by [[UsefulNotes/BritishPoliticalSystem New Labour's]] SlaveToPR government. While the earlier show commented on the power of unelected civil servants, the later show portrays the government's spin doctors and the media as the most powerful influences. The show also has a distinct anti-''[[Series/TheWestWing West Wing]]'' sensibility, sitting at the opposite end of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: don't expect sharply-dressed idealists doing their best to serve their voters, ''this'' show is all about venal politicians, incompetent civil servants and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking bad suits]]. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | The show is set in and around the fictitious Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship, the least glamorous and most troublesome of all the [[UsefulNotes/BritishPoliticalSystem Cabinet]] offices. Created as a "Super Department" with a wide-ranging and varied (read: vague and confusing) remit, it handles everything from housing to crime statistics (read: the boring stuff none of the other departments can be arsed with). |
| 21 | |
| 22 | The plot focuses for the most part on the Prime Minister's Director of Communications (read: enforcer) Malcolm Tucker, played by Creator/PeterCapaldi, whose job consists of yelling at people in the vain hope that it might stop them from fucking up too badly. The first two series, each comprising three episodes, star Chris Langham as the hapless Minister for Social Affairs, Hugh Abbott MP. They were followed by two hour-long specials: "Rise of the Nutters" and "Spinners and Losers", which deal with the issue of the Prime Minister's impending resignation. The third series introduced Nicola Murray MP, played by Creator/RebeccaFront, as Hugh Abbott's replacement following a Cabinet reshuffle. The fourth series started in September 2012, in which the new [=DoSAC=] minister is the world-weary Peter Mannion MP, while the party Malcolm is loyal to is now in opposition. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | An alternate-universe spin-off movie, ''Film/InTheLoop'', was released in 2009, featuring many from the ''Thick Of It'' ensemble, but cast in different roles (except for Malcolm, Jamie and Sam, and briefly Angela Heaney) as they desperately try not to get involved in a war in the Middle East after a Minister's gaffe. An [[TransAtlanticEquivalent American version]], titled ''Series/{{Veep}}'' (being set in the office of the Vice President) aired on {{Creator/HBO}} in spring 2012. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | This show has numerous characters: you can read more about them and how they fit into the UsefulNotes/BritishPoliticalSystem over at the show's [[Characters/TheThickOfIt Character Sheet]]. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | ''Very'' popular in Whitehall, which can only be a bad thing for the UK... |
| 29 | |
| 30 | ---- |
| 31 | !!This show provides examples of: |
| 32 | |
| 33 | * ZeroPercentApprovalRating: |
| 34 | ** PlayedForLaughs when Malcolm receives in one episode a birthday cake with the words "Happy Birthday C*nt" written on the icing. His reaction? |
| 35 | --->This could be from anyone. |
| 36 | ** As powerless as she was during her time as head of [=DoSAC,=] Nicola at least had the support of her staff. After becoming Leader of the Opposition, Nicola ended up earning the disrespect and mockery of almost everyone she encountered on a day-to-day basis: members of public openly deride her attempts at securing power; journalists hound her at every turn, accompanied by the dreaded "Chop"; her assistants openly insult her; the rest of the shadow cabinet laugh at her ideas... even Steve Fleming went out of his way to [[JerkassHasAPoint publicly state that she was un-electable.]] |
| 37 | * TwoPlusTortureMakesFive: In the first episode, Malcolm tries to "persuade" journalists that minister Hugh Abbott did make an important announcement at an earlier press conference (though he did no such thing) - it's just that journalists missed it. |
| 38 | * AbhorrentAdmirer: |
| 39 | ** John Duggan makes seedy overtures to Helen Hatley only minutes after meeting her. |
| 40 | ** Terri Coverley has a crush on Peter Mannion, even openly referring to him as Peter Man-yum. |
| 41 | --->'''Peter Mannion:''' She just made eyes at me...god, I wish I could make redundancy at her... |
| 42 | * AbortedArc: In "Spinners and Losers", Adam vows to destroy Olly by making him the subject of the most malicious smear campaign in the history of the British media. When Adam joins the cast in season four, this is never brought up and the two never interact again. |
| 43 | * ActorAllusion: |
| 44 | ** Malcolm's office is referred to as "Literature/TheLairOfTheWhiteWorm". Creator/BramStoker's lesser known horror novel received [[Film/TheLairOfTheWhiteWorm a loose modern-day adaptation in 1988]] and starred--yep, you guessed it--Creator/PeterCapaldi. |
| 45 | ** In the second episode, Glenn can be seen drinking a can of orange Tango. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtMj44K_GrQ James Smith once appeared in an advert for that very drink]]. |
| 46 | ** Terri is referred to as "Nurse Ratched" by Fergus and Adam at one point. Creator/JoannaScanlan played a Nurse Ratched {{Expy}} in an episode of ''{{Series/Spaced}}'' which contained a WholePlotReference to ''Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest''. |
| 47 | ** "He looks like a Lego policeman"- Ollie on spin doctor Steve Fleming, played by Creator/DavidHaig of ''Series/TheThinBlueLine''. |
| 48 | ** Malcolm makes a couple of references to Music/TheBeatles. Capaldi played Music/GeorgeHarrison in the 1985 MadeForTVMovie ''John and Yoko: A Love Story''. |
| 49 | * ActuallyPrettyFunny: |
| 50 | ** Malcolm insults everyone constantly but gets away with it by being [[RefugeInAudacity audacious]], charming, ...and funny: |
| 51 | --->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' You should try the chicken salad! If I'm lucky you'll get salmonella.\ |
| 52 | '''Julius Nicholson:''' Now ''that'' is amusing, Malcolm; that is very funny. |
| 53 | ** Ollie has to admit that leaving a pair of flip-flops on Angela Heaney's desk after she filed multiple contradictory stories about a proposed [=DoSAC=] policy is funny...the porn picture with the caption "Angela Swallows Anything" less so. |
| 54 | * {{Adminisphere}}: The British government is basically depicted as this to the rest of the country, being a mostly out-of-touch cloister of career politicos, technocratic policy wonks and nepotism-boosted weirdos who would be utterly unemployable anywhere else, who are all both scathingly contemptuous towards and simultaneously a bit frightened of actually dealing with the general public they're supposed to be representing. |
| 55 | * AlasPoorVillain: |
| 56 | ** [[spoiler:Malcolm himself]] being forced out of a job by someone even more villainous than himself. |
| 57 | ** Stewart Pearson gets a moment like this in the third season finale, when [[TheNapoleon Cal]] [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyfast "The Fucker"]] [[ShroudedInMyth Richards]] tells him he's been fired as a [[KickTheDog joke]]. Sure, Stewart is an unlikeable, power-tripping master of meaningless PC hypocrisy, but he looks so...broken. |
| 58 | * AmbiguouslyGay: Julius "Screaming Lord Crutch" Nicholson. |
| 59 | * AnalogyBackfire: Analogies often backfire and most spectacularly in the DramaBomb episode where [[spoiler:Malcolm gets fired]]. The script features a running theme of theatre-related metaphors: |
| 60 | -->'''Marianne Swift''': Malcolm, we get it, you're still the star of the show.\ |
| 61 | '''Malcolm Tucker''': Warm them up, tell them Olivier's on his way but in the meantime here's ''An Audience With Peter fuckin' Bowles''...what happened, did you get heckled off?\ |
| 62 | '''Steve Fleming''': [[spoiler:The show's over, it's curtains...]] |
| 63 | * {{Angrish}}: |
| 64 | -->"Auf Wiedersehen Pet, the party's over, goodbye yellow brick road!"\ |
| 65 | "FUCKIN' OLLIE! HE'S A FUCKIN' KNITTED SCARF!" |
| 66 | * AndTheAdventureContinues: Despite the changes wrought by the Goolding Inquiry (which include [[spoiler:Malcolm's arrest and resignation, Nicola's career lying in ruins, Glenn walking out and Stuart being sacked]]) life goes on as usual for [=DoSAC=] - there's a fresh scandal to try and take care of and everyone quickly descends into the usual bickering and insults. Peter's final line (and the series epitaph) of ''"What a shit day!"'' pretty much sums up the series as a whole. |
| 67 | * AndThereWasMuchRejoicing: Everyone is elated when Malcolm resigns in 3.7, with Terri popping the wine out. Naturally, it deosn't last. |
| 68 | * AntiHero: Malcolm Tucker started off as the ArchEnemy of Hugh Abbott, then was made the main character, when the writers realised an amoral spin doctor is a far more entertaining character than a worn-out middle-aged politician. |
| 69 | * ArmourPiercingQuestion: "Do you ever get [[LonelyAtTheTop lonely]], Malcolm?" |
| 70 | * ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: |
| 71 | ** Emma asks Olly what he's been saying about her at the office: |
| 72 | -->I've been saying, er, you smell of fennel, you're racist, you torture horses and you're in Music/TheBangles, that's what I've been saying about you at work. |
| 73 | ** "Have you been at Number 10 recently? It's like the break-up of Music/TheBeatles, during the fall of UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire. While fucking...[[PageThreeStunna Jordan's]] splitting up with that bloke." |
| 74 | * AscendedExtra: Adam Kenyon makes a one-off appearance in ''Spinners and Losers'' as the sweary, frustrated editor of The Mail. He reappears in Series 4, no longer at The Mail but as a special adviser to Fergus Williams, and one of the show's main characters. |
| 75 | * AskAStupidQuestion: Jamie does this deliberately in an attempt to wind Malcolm up. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQoem1717X4 It works]]: |
| 76 | -->'''Jamie:''' Have you seen this?\ |
| 77 | '''Malcolm Tucker:''' [[SarcasmMode No, I haven't seen that. I'm the senior press guy for the government of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I don't look at the newspapers. That's fuckin' news to me!]] |
| 78 | * AtomicFBomb: |
| 79 | ** Hugh's bollocking from Malcolm [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5jr33wiVZQ outside the goldfish bowl]] probably counts as an Atomic Cluster F Bomb. |
| 80 | --->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' "Why the fuck didn't you talk to me you STUPID CUNT!! How the fuck am I supposed to do my job if I don't know what THE FUCK IS GOING ON!? You're a FUCKING PRICK!!" |
| 81 | ** To add to the effect, the door of the theoretically (but not) soundproof glass room is opened just as Malcolm shouts the word "prick". |
| 82 | * AxCrazy: Jamie, the aggressive, foul-mouthed Scottish press officer who is ''even worse'' than Malcolm: |
| 83 | -->'''Ollie Reeder:''' "When I met you this morning I thought you were the ''nice'' Scot." |
| 84 | * BadBoss: Good luck trying to find a moment in the show where Malcolm himself is in a good mood, and isn't insulting the co-workers he's speaking to. Except that he does treat his assistant, Sam, well. He's even protective of her when he's sacked at the end of series three. |
| 85 | * BadassAdorable: Jamie. With his short stature, curly hair, boyish smile and gigantic blue eyes he doesn't look like the sort of man who threatens to push iPods up his enemies' penises: |
| 86 | * BadassInANiceSuit: |
| 87 | ** When we see Malcolm in casual clothes he seems strangely vulnerable and emasculated, if frightening [[WeWantOurJerkBack in a whole other way]]. He reverts to his usual imposing self the minute he gets back into his suits. |
| 88 | --->'''Ollie Reeder:''' It's like he's been to the vet and had his knackers done. |
| 89 | ** And after he marches down the stairs again, barking orders, Sam walks into his office holding his suit, freshly dry-cleaned. [[EvilCostumeSwitch It gets a close-up]]. |
| 90 | * BadassLongcoat: Malcolm wears a flowing black coat, most notably when vowing to his Number 10 colleagues "YOU WILL SEE ME AGAIN" and then walking out of Number 10 as it billows after him. |
| 91 | * BaddieFlattery: One of Malcolm's favourite tactics. It usually works too. |
| 92 | * BastardUnderstudy: Malcolm's PsychoForHire, Jamie. He was carefully chosen by Malcolm for being too feral to ever pose a real threat to his job. |
| 93 | * BathroomStallOfOverheardInsults: In a deleted scene, Malcolm reveals that he sends junior press officers to the toilets to spy on people, obtaining what he calls "Urinal Intelligence" while harnessing "the power of The Third Eye". |
| 94 | * BeachEpisode: The party conference episode in series three. Being ''The Thick of It'', and being set in [[UsefulNotes/TheGreatBritishSeaside Eastbourne]], this episode is just as unglamorous as the rest. We see Terri in her cagoule, but no-one in their swimsuits, which is [[FanDisservice probably for the best]]. Although we ''do'' get to see [[DracoInLeatherPants Malcolm in black tie]], [[{{Fanservice}} for no apparent reason]]. |
| 95 | * BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: A recurring theme is that, while [=MPs=] are scrambling over each other for cabinet posts, holding high political office is terrible. You're under constant scrutiny from hack journalists who will leap on any little mistake or past shame; you're essentially required to publically live like a pauper, which will wreck your family life; party enforcers like Malcolm Tucker hang over you like the Sword of Damocles; and you can be chucked back into the backbench wilderness at a moment's notice. |
| 96 | * BelligerentSexualTension: Peter Mannion, overhearing Emma and Phil bickering, once asks them: "What is this? sexual tension?" Their (apparently sincere) response is less than enthusiastic: |
| 97 | -->'''Phil''': Fuck off, I'd rather pay for it.\ |
| 98 | '''Emma''': I'd rather fucking eat my own shit. |
| 99 | * BerserkButton: |
| 100 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_7pyktzpY8 "He loves Al Jolson."]] |
| 101 | ** Opposition spin doctor Stewart Pearson ''really'' doesn't like being locked in small rooms. |
| 102 | ** Glenn does ''not'' care for people mocking someone who has just committed suicide. |
| 103 | ** Nicola gets unusually snappy whenever people use patronising, endearing nicknames on her, like Nicky or Sweetheart. |
| 104 | -->'''Steve Fleming''': Listen, sweetheart-\ |
| 105 | '''Nicola Murray''': ''Do not'' '''FUCKING''' call me sweetheart! |
| 106 | * BestialityIsDepraved: Mentioned when Malcolm gives Olly a bollocking for questioning one of his more unscrupulous schemes: "Don't start with the moral objections, you fuckin' Series/BluePeter badge-wearing ponce! Go and make a contribution to fuckin' Amnesty International! Go and buy a goat that a whole village can fuck!" |
| 107 | ** Later on, Phil compares Olly to "the man who fucked the monkey that gave us AIDS", in the sense that he has created a runaway problem and is now moaning about its scale. |
| 108 | * BetterTheDevilYouKnow: |
| 109 | ** Invoked word-for-word by Stewart Pearson, when Cal "The Fucker" Richards descends on the Opposition. |
| 110 | ** Implied when [[spoiler:Malcolm Tucker]] is forced out by [[spoiler:Steve Fleming]]. |
| 111 | * BigBadWannabe: Steve Fleming MP, who takes up a prominent cabinet communications role in series 3, and briefly succeeds [[spoiler:in getting his arch-nemesis Malcolm Tucker humiliatingly sacked from the government.]] However, Steve's time in power is brief. [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] Malcolm [[OutGambitted Out-Gambits]] him, [[spoiler:despite being unemployed; he succeeds in making Steve the fall guy for a series of cock-ups and forces him to resign.]] |
| 112 | ** Cal "The Fucker" Richards, Malcolm's counterpart in the opposition, is the ''real'' BigBad, even if he only appears in [[OneSceneWonder one scene]]. |
| 113 | * TheBigBoard: Opposition aide Phil uses one for his [=DoSAC=] Implementation Matrix. |
| 114 | * BigEater: |
| 115 | ** Julius Nicholson: "[[YouFool You fools]]! These are good biscuits and they cost four pounds." |
| 116 | ** Nicholson has a constant food motif. When he isn't munching biscuits, buying sandwiches or eating takeaways, he's feeding the ducks. He even tries to go [[ThroughHisStomach through Malcolm's stomach]] when he [[spoiler: wants Malcolm to come back after his sacking]]. However, he will ''not'' eat the pissy biscuit, or THE FUCKIN' CHEEEEEEESE... |
| 117 | --->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' Sam! No pissy biscuits! |
| 118 | ** [[FatIdiot Ben Swain]] is another big eater, with his "Magic Drawer" full of chocolate: |
| 119 | --->'''Nicola Murray:''' You haven't had this much fun since you went to Cadbury World. |
| 120 | * BitchInSheepsClothing: It's a paper-thin disguise in ''[[BerserkButton Steve]]'' Fleming's case. |
| 121 | * BitingTheHandHumour: Series 3 managed to fit in numerous digs at the BBC. Some were subtle, others not so subtle: |
| 122 | -->'''Phil Smith:''' You've seen ''{{Film/Misery}}''?\ |
| 123 | '''Peter Mannion:''' I'm in the fucking BBC, aren't I? |
| 124 | * BlackAndGreyMorality: Hardly any character is without their flaws, and are all depicted to be varying degrees of cowardly, grubbing, backstabbing, manipulative, self-centred and ultimately more concerned with simply keeping their jobs than with doing the right thing. |
| 125 | * BlackComedy: A grimly accurate portrayal of the self-serving political system and incredibly, impossibly funny. Even the suicide jokes. The series is notorious for its one liners, often chock-a-block with words unrepeatable pre-watershed. |
| 126 | * BlatantLies: The first episode had them deciding to announce a policy, believing they had permission. When it turned out they didn't, they had to call all the journalists they'd already told about it and claim it had been leaked by a disgruntled civil servant. After they managed to not announce the policy during a press conference, the Prime Minister then decided to support the policy. They then had to convince the journalists that they had announced it at the press conference (and that the journalists just didn't notice) and that the story about the policy being leaked by a disgruntled civil servant, was in fact leaked by a disgruntled civil servant... |
| 127 | * BlondeRepublicanSexKitten: Emma Messinger, except replace "Republican" with "Tory" (well, probably Tory): She's posh, she's blonde, she's ambitious and she's a conservative. Doesn't keep her from sleeping with (probable) Labour man Olly Reeder. |
| 128 | * BothSidesHaveAPoint: In one later episode, Nicola is asked to publish crime data "up to the last quarter," and so publishes the data up to ''and including'' the latest quarter. A furious Steve Fleming insists that he told her to publish up to but ''not'' including the last quarter. Nicola argues that being told to count "up to twenty" includes twenty, and Steve counters that the events leading up to World War II don't include World War II itself. Depending on the view, either could be correct. |
| 129 | * BottleEpisode: Series 3 Episode 6 takes place almost entirely in the [=DoSAC=] offices, which Malcolm has placed on "lockdown" with nobody allowed to leave. The only exception is a short scene out the front of those same offices. |
| 130 | * BrainsAndBrawn: Malcolm and Jamie are an EvilDuo who fit this trope. This is actually an extremely intelligent decsion by Malcolm, by having a strong ally that is less intelligent, he protects himself from his ally turning on him and doing any damage. |
| 131 | * BreadEggsMilkSquick: Malcolm demonstrates his low opinion of Julius: |
| 132 | -->'''Malcolm:''' Julius Nicholson, right? Blue sky thinker? Ex business guru? Dog rapist? |
| 133 | * BreakTheMotivationalSpeaker: Stewart, a PR manager and adviser for one of the political parties, speaks in an infuriating combination of PR slogans and buzzwords that are actually meaningless {{Ice Cream Koan}}s overlaid with a false GranolaGirl-style cheerfulness and enthusiasm. Peter, a minister who detests the entire culture of spin but nonetheless has to deal with Stewart regularly, constantly snarks at him and relishes every opportunity to undermine or humiliate him. |
| 134 | * BreakoutCharacter: For the show's first two seasons, Hugh Abbott was clearly the main character and focus. After his departure at the end of Season 2, several previously secondary characters saw their roles significantly increased to fill the gap. Malcolm Tucker became more and more prominent as the show went on. |
| 135 | * BriefAccentImitation: |
| 136 | ** Characters occasionally do bad imitations of Malcolm's [[UsefulNotes/BritishAccents Glaswegian]] accent. Never to his face, of course. |
| 137 | ** Phil does this to express his opinion of Malcolm as an non-threatening comedy Scotsman. Then he meets him... |
| 138 | ** Malcolm does a brief imitation of John Duggan's English accent, and it is genuinely disturbing. |
| 139 | ** Ollie briefly does a Scottish accent, a Yorkshire accent and a Scouse accent, all saying, "I hate you!", when describing Nicola's cross-country meet-the-people tour. |
| 140 | * BringMeMyBrownPants: Malcolm Tucker invokes this at one point when summoning Nicola to his office. |
| 141 | -->Might be an idea to wear brown trousers and a shirt the colour of blood. |
| 142 | * BritishBrevity: The first two series had only three episodes each. |
| 143 | * BritishTeeth: Peter Capaldi once referred to the series as "''Series/TheWestWing'' with bad teeth and swearing." |
| 144 | * BuffySpeak: |
| 145 | ** While overlooking their new office at the end of season two: |
| 146 | -->'''Terri''': What are these, um, hangy-down things? |
| 147 | ** The infamous "Quiet Bat People". |
| 148 | * BullyingADragon: In Episode 4 of Season 4, Malcolm needs Ben Swain [[spoiler: to resign in order for him to depose Nicola]], and has (with no intention of screwing him over,) offered him the Foreign Office in return. Ben then starts playing both sides against each other, demanding they raise their offers, and relishing the fact that (for once), he holds all the cards. And, indeed, he does hold the cards, right up until he's committed too far to back out, and Malcolm shows him exactly why he ''really'' should have accepted the original offer... |
| 149 | * ButtMonkey: |
| 150 | ** Glen Cullen is a pretty extreme example of this trope. He's regarded as an aging, irrelevant joke despite all his attempts to claim his 'experience' (read: age) has given him connections, sex-starved to the point where even his friends don't hesitate to point out "the last time you saw snatch was ''Film/BasicInstinct''" and scapegoated numerous times for the screw-ups of other people in the department. By the second series, it's become enough to give him a pitiable but quite hilarious mental breakdown. |
| 151 | ** In "Spinners And Losers", the less sympathetic Ollie Reeder gets bullied left and right by Malcolm, sucking up to the various {{Smug Snake}}s, forced into embarrassing himself trying to rekindle a relationship he just broke off and then reduced to the status of cheese monitor while his ex-girlfriend and ArchEnemy laugh at him. |
| 152 | ** Peter Mannion as well, particularly by series three. It's quite obvious the man is well-meaning, but he's constantly surrounded by people who want to make him look like a tosser, or people who think he's a tosser. |
| 153 | ** Phil has gone from being Emma's enemy in the Specials and Series 3, to being universally detested by everyone at [=DoSAC=]. Terri seems to be speaking for everyone when she says "That boy is a simpleton. Two hundred years ago, they wouldn't have let him milk a cow." However, he's so arrogant and obnoxious that it's hard to feel sorry for him. |
| 154 | ** [[FatIdiot Ben Swain's]] first appearance has him unexpectedly ending up in an interview with [[TheDreaded Jeremy Paxman]], which was accurately described as "like watching a lion raping a sheep, but in a bad way." Later on, Malcolm forces him into another one with the same man and leaves him with nothing to talk about. Then he spends a happy half-hour being told he might be the next Prime Minister, only to be left "standing in the House, alone, with your big, flaccid dick hanging out with a Vote-for-Me sticker on the end." And then there's the events of Season 4, Episode 4, though to be fair that was his own fault. |
| 155 | ** Nicola was never the most competent minister, but in series four, when she's become Leader of the Opposition, each episode seems to just be one long HumiliationConga for her. |
| 156 | * BystanderSyndrome: Malcolm Tucker calls this trope [=NoMFuP=]: "Not My Fucking Problem". |
| 157 | * CannotTellAJoke: |
| 158 | ** Nicola often gets a blank stare, or even multiple blank stares, when attempting humour. Her poorly timed, "Thank our fucky stars for that", joke in the radio episode, especially takes the cake. |
| 159 | ** Ollie too, mostly in the first couple of seasons. He occasionally manages a bit of genuinely funny [[DeadpanSnarker deadpan snarking]] but mostly he just desperately prolongs other people's jokes. |
| 160 | ** Glenn isn't the wittiest bloke, and he gets a smackdown from Robyn: |
| 161 | -->'''Robyn Murdoch''': Don't do jokes, Glenn. You're not a funny man, you're not that type... |
| 162 | ** Peter Mannion is accused of this during the radio debate: |
| 163 | --->'''Peter Mannion:''' ...who should come rolling along the corridor but Malcolm Tucker, the man who was once referred to as 'The [[ViolentGlaswegian Gorbals]] [[ThoseWackyNazis Goebbels]]'?\ |
| 164 | '''Stewart Pearson:''' Oh, don't do a joke, Peter, don't do a joke... |
| 165 | * CaptainObvious: Done quite frequently when making official comments to avoid misinterpretation, such as when Stewart says he hopes there will be no more Mr. Tickels, then follows up by explaining he means that in terms of preventing other people from ending up in Tickel's situation, not in terms of wiping out the Tickel family line. |
| 166 | * CasanovaWannabe: Glen and his pitiful attempts at flirting with Robyn. |
| 167 | -->'''Glen Cullen:''' "If anyone shouts at you, they'll have to answer to me. I'll box his ears!" |
| 168 | -->'''Hugh Abbot:''' "Box his ears? If that was flirting, that was absolutely crap. Box his ears? How long is it since you've had sex?" |
| 169 | * CassandraDidIt: The Inquiry pinned all the blame on [[spoiler: Malcolm for Tickel's suicide]] in Season 4, but it could have been avoided if anyone had paid attention to his advice and warnings. Earlier, he had urged Nicola to "embrace our friend Mr. Tickle" and criticize the Government's mistreatment of him, but she refused to even mention it publicly until [[spoiler: Tickel was already dead and Malcolm had her cornered]]). He [[spoiler: leaked Tickel's medical records]] to show that the Government was persecuting someone vulnerable and courting disaster, but the Government wouldn't back down from their policy and the Opposition never called them out for it. So even if he deserved some blame, [[spoiler: Malcolm]] was the only one who'd been right about Tickel and didn't deserve to be the Inquiry's scapegoat. |
| 170 | * CastingGag: Creator/ArmandoIannucci admitted he cast Creator/TomHollander as Cal "The Fucker" Richards partly as an in-joke for fans who'd seen him playing Simon Foster in ''Film/InTheLoop''. |
| 171 | * CatFight: In a deleted scene from "Spinners and Losers", Robyn and Terri have a squabble...while Jamie chants "fight, fight, fight" and starts pushing their jackets off their shoulders. |
| 172 | * CentipedesDilemma: Nicola is unable to remember which foot to start with when walking to the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday. [[spoiler: She ends up totally frozen, as her staff watch on television in horror.]] |
| 173 | * CelebrityParadox: |
| 174 | ** In the second episode, Malcolm and Hugh watch ''Series/TheBill''. James Smith appeared on the show, both in guest roles and the recurring role of Clive Inverdale in 2003. |
| 175 | ** ''Series/HaveIGotNewsForYou'' exists in the [=ThickVerse=]. Creator/PeterCapaldi, Creator/RebeccaFront, Chris Addison, Miles Jupp and Creator/ArmandoIannucci have all appeared on ''HIGNFY''. (None of them cracked unkind jokes about Peter Mannion's wife, however.) |
| 176 | ** Phil is a keen ''Series/GameOfThrones'' fan, asking Adam if he's seen Season Two, and referring to himself as "the King's Hand". Creator/RogerAllam (Peter Mannion) played Illyrio Mopatis in that series. One wonders if Phil has noticed the resemblance. |
| 177 | ** Nicola refers to ''Series/DoctorWho'' at one point in Series Three. One can only imagine Nicola's reaction to watching Series Eight of DW and seeing Malcolm walk out of the TARDIS calling himself the Doctor. |
| 178 | * CellPhonesAreUseless: There's almost no mobile coverage at the country hotel where Stewart's ghastly "Thought Camp" is being held. Stewart and Peter are forced to stand at the top of the [[spoiler: children's slide]] in order to get reception. Needless to say, there's someone with a Website/{{Twitter}} account, a camera phone, and (one assumes) a grudge to bear, in the vicinity. |
| 179 | * CerebusSyndrome: The series went through this, partly because of changes in the RealLife political climate it reflects, and partly because of its own fractured production history. As the UK went into recession, news of the [=MPs=]' expenses scandal broke, and New Labour began losing their grip on power, the storylines in the show's third series became less comedic and more dramatic. The third series was also the first complete series commissioned by the BBC (the other episodes had been pilot episodes, short runs or hour-long specials) and gave the writers their first chance to toy with story arcs, resulting in the the third series being much less episodic than the first. |
| 180 | * CharacterDevelopment: A lot of characters are becoming gradually more and more politically savvy, the most noticeable being Ollie in Series 4. Bear in mind that this simply means they're not idiots anymore. |
| 181 | * CharacterTics: A really cringeworthy one with "blinky dork" Ben Swain. Jamie calls his nervous blinking "epilepsy of the eyes." |
| 182 | * ChekhovsGunman: |
| 183 | ** Steve Fleming mostly wars against Malcolm at the end of Series 3, but Nicola's attitude towards him ends badly for her in Series 4. Fleming makes the front page of the Guardian in episode 4 with claims that Nicola is unelectable, which causes Malcolm to realise that the time is right for her political demise. By the end of the episode, she's gone. |
| 184 | ** Tara Strachan, the economist Adam and Fergus talk to in episode 3 of Series 4. There's a couple of blink-and-you'll-miss-it shots of her with a concerned look on her face as she takes a phonecall and looks into the office in which the group are reacting to the news of Tickel's death. She quickly ends the call when they come out, which doesn't come up again until the enquiry. It turns out she was reporting the inappropriate response (including elation from Phil), which bites the group hard when they're called on it. |
| 185 | * ChewingTheScenery: |
| 186 | ** The role of Malcolm Tucker involves plenty of {{Death Glare}}s and {{Eye Takes}}, not to mention countless [[CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon bollockings]] and all of that [[ClusterFBomb Baroque]] [[CountryMatters swearing]]. Peter Capaldi says he finds the role "cathartic", and [[EvilIsCool who can blame him]]? |
| 187 | ** He also says he finds the role exhausting: it requires him to act so damn hard his temple veins start throbbing. This is occasionally [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]], as is his stressed-out and sleep-deprived appearance in the show. The latter is apparently [[EnforcedMethodActing not entirely down to acting]], and this seems to be confirmed by the fact that he looks about ten years younger in ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth''. Between Series 1 and Series 3 of ''The Thick of It'' he also managed to go completely grey, which may or may not be a coincidence. |
| 188 | ** In Ianucci's own words (about ''Film/InTheLoop''): |
| 189 | --->"We just had to give Malcolm as much as possible to say, he gets [through] his words so quickly. We have to keep feeding the monster." |
| 190 | * ChildHater: Peter, who says "I hate school children. They're volatile and stupid and they haven't got the vote. Might as well be talking to fucking geese." |
| 191 | * ChristmasEpisode: Averted: Although the Specials show some of the characteristics of a Christmas Episode, they take place shortly ''after'' Christmas and the Christmas decoration gradually disappears from the office, leaving only one sad little bit of tinsel by the time the second Special begins. |
| 192 | * ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Everyone. In every episode. |
| 193 | ** Malcolm in particular seems to spend at least half his time sabotaging people from HIS party. |
| 194 | * {{Claustrophobia}}: Nicola Murray (like actress Creator/RebeccaFront) is claustrophobic. Judging by his reaction to being locked in Peter Mannion's bathroom as the result of a prank in the Opposition special, Stewart Pearson may also be. |
| 195 | * {{Cliffhanger}}: |
| 196 | -->"The Prime Minister has resigned! The Prime Minister ''has just resigned''!"\ |
| 197 | [[spoiler: "YOU WILL SEE ME AGAIN! YOU WILL FUCKIN' SEE ME AGAIN!"]]\ |
| 198 | And from episode 4.06, [[spoiler: "I'm finished anyway. ''You'' didn't finish me."]] |
| 199 | * ClothingReflectsPersonality: In season three, all of Malcolm's suits are light grey, and sometimes he'll even pair a grey suit with a grey tie. When we see him in casual clothes we discover that practically every other item of clothing he owns is also grey. This could have been a deliberate attempt to match his wardrobe to his hair colour but the grey is also very fitting for a press officer who likes to hide in the background, never becoming the story. |
| 200 | * ClusterBleepBomb: The series aired on BBC America with the swearing bleeped out. The result was described by one of the writers as having "sounded like a lorry reversing into a heart monitor." |
| 201 | * ClusterFBomb: |
| 202 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mss7ZNIEhfo Tucker's Law]] is the strongest example of so very, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXoopmFkDBU very]]'' many. |
| 203 | ** "Come the fuck in or fuck the fuck off..." Only Malcolm could find a way to fit an extra "fuck" into "fuck off". |
| 204 | ** Listing all of the examples would take forever: this is probably the sweariest sitcom ever made. The unusually high level of swearing is even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in one episode: |
| 205 | ---> '''[=DoSAC=] Staffer:''' Could you stop swearing, please?\ |
| 206 | '''Malcolm Tucker:''' I'm really sorry, you won't hear any more swearing from us, you '''MASSIVE'''... '''GAY''' '''''SHITE'''''! '''''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-Iz7-8W9Ro FUCK OFF!]]''''' |
| 207 | ** And again in ''Film/InTheLoop'': |
| 208 | --->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' ''(into phone)'' Fucking hung up, haven't you? You fucking hoity-toity fucking...\ |
| 209 | '''American Tourist:''' Hey, buddy? Enough with the curse words, all right?\ |
| 210 | '''Malcolm Tucker:''' ''(beat)'' Kiss my sweaty balls, you fat fuck! |
| 211 | * CockFight: Fergus and Adam vying for the attentions of a hot economist in [=S04E03=]. |
| 212 | * CoincidentalBroadcast: When the Prime Minister resigns, Malcolm, Jamie, Ben and Ollie are immediately able to watch a news item about it. The Prime Minister resigning would be pretty big news, and would certainly take over the rolling news channels almost immediately. And such offices would usually have at least one TV constantly switched to rolling news (probably either BBC News or BBC Parliament), if only for the look of the thing (and it's as reliable a news feed as any for most things), but simultaneously PlayedForLaughs by another group dashing around desperately looking for a television, and then arguing about how to plug it in. |
| 213 | * ComedicSociopathy: The writers ''seriously'' love to mock the actors' physical characteristics. The scripts lay into everything from Alex [=MacQueen's=] lack of hair to Justin Edwards' nervous blink: |
| 214 | -->'''[[http://www.avclub.com/articles/peter-capaldi,30792/ Peter Capaldi]]:''' "I said to [[Creator/ArmandoIannucci Armando]], 'Why do you always get me to run about?' And he says, 'Because you've just got [[GirlyRun a funny run]]'"\ |
| 215 | '''Chris Addison:''' One of the things that the ''Thick Of It'' writers are very good at is taking our own physical defects and flinging them right back at us.\ |
| 216 | '''Will Smith:''' ''(who plays Opposition aide Phil)'' They're like bullies, basically. |
| 217 | * ComplimentBackfire: "You're like a female UsefulNotes/JohnMajor." Ouch. |
| 218 | * ConfusingMultipleNegatives: Hugh Abbot: "I categorically did not knowingly not tell the truth, even though unknowingly I might not have done." |
| 219 | * ContinuitySnarl: While the series maintains unusually high amounts of continuity for a BritCom, details of Malcolm Tucker's home life are somewhat inconsistent. "Spinners and Losers" reveals he has a niece, but Series 3 shows him spending his birthday alone in his office. The SeriesFinale, in addition, has him state he has no children, which is potentially contradicted that same episode, when a young boy is seen looking out of the window of his home. |
| 220 | * CoolOldGuy: Completely averted--the older you are, the naffer everyone thinks you are. Poor Glenn. |
| 221 | * CorruptTheCutie: |
| 222 | ** Nicola arrives at [=DoSAC=] as a [[WideEyedIdealist wide-eyed]], naive MP who only reluctantly agreed to become a Cabinet minister. After being introduced to Malcolm, she attempts to emulate him, swearing more in front of him ("You are ''so'' wanking with the wrong crowd!") and trying to imitate his signature method of issuing threats ("Do we go after him with... a bum-dildo of vengeance?"). By the end of the series she becomes power-hungry to the point of considering a leadership bid, and swears so much that even Steve Fleming is shocked ("You're quite the potty-mouth, aren't you?"). |
| 223 | --->'''Nicola Murray:''' You're about as on the ball today as a dead fucking seal!\ |
| 224 | '''Malcolm Tucker:''' Hey, that's one of my lines! |
| 225 | ** Ollie Reeder, to the point of ultimately [[spoiler:taking Malcolm's place]] by the end of Series 4. |
| 226 | * CountryMatters: The series is full of ClusterFBombs, and the writers aren't afraid of Country Matters either. |
| 227 | ** In the season two finale, an eight-year-old girl is accidentally sent an email reading "Christ alive! What a cunt !!!" and HilarityEnsues. |
| 228 | ** In season three, Malcolm Tucker receives a birthday cake iced with "Happy Birthday C*nt". From the Prime Minister. |
| 229 | ** And in a deleted scene: |
| 230 | -->'''Malcolm''': Tucker's Law: If some cunt can fuck something up, that cunt will pick the worst possible time to fucking fuck it up because that cunt's a cunt! I've got that embroidered on a tea towel at home. |
| 231 | ** This was nicely referenced in Peter Capaldi's [[SelfDeprecation self-deprecating]] ad for [=MacMillan=] Cancer Support, in which he discussed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXeZHgkMHEU "The Big C--and not my usual Big C..."]] |
| 232 | * CrazyPrepared: Parodied by Jamie: "I do keep a balaclava and gaffer tape in my car". |
| 233 | * CringeComedy: |
| 234 | ** Blinky" Ben Swain's ''Newsnight'' interview: "Like watching a lion rape a sheep, but in a bad way." |
| 235 | ** Nicola's ''[[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers Guardian]]'' meeting from series 3 may be the show's most cringe-inducing moment to date, although the radio interview with Mannion and Richard Bacon comes close. |
| 236 | --->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' Fuck me! This is like a clown running across a minefield! |
| 237 | ** Peter Mannion's "I call app Britain" speech at the school in episode 1 of season 4. |
| 238 | * CrossingTheBurntBridge: A mild case: Hugh has decided that resigning would be better for his long-term political career, and on his way to make the announcement, he says a few unpleasant things about his department and the staff. Predictably, his resignation is no longer necessary and he comes back, but nobody really bears any grudge because (a) while he was honest, he didn't say anything too hurtful or spiteful, and (b) most of them hate each other anyway and they all know it, and consequently everyone has a lot of experience with swallowing their dislike and working together to brace themselves for the next stage in the eternal HumiliationConga which makes up their lives. |
| 239 | * CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon: "You breathe a word of this to anyone, you mincing fucking ''[[CountryMatters CUNT]]'' and I will tear your fuckin' skin off, I will wear it to your mother's birthday party and I will rub your nuts up and down her leg whilst whistling ''Bohemian'' fuckin' ''Rhapsody'', right? Now [[DeathGlare get out of my fucking sight...]]" Malcolm is particularly good at dishing out this kind of threat... |
| 240 | ** ...and so is Jamie. This trope is pretty much Jamie's job description: |
| 241 | --->'''Jamie:''' You take the piss out of Jolson again and I will remove your iPod from its tiny nano-sheath and push it up your cock. Then I'll plug some speakers up your arse and put it on to shuffle with my fucking fist. And every time I hear something that I don't like- which will be every time that something comes on- I will skip to the next track by crushing your balls. |
| 242 | ** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in Series 3: |
| 243 | --->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' I just wanted to say to you by way of introductory remarks that I'm ''extremely'' miffed about today's events, and in my quest to try to make you understand the level of my unhappiness I'm likely to use an awful lot of what we would call ''violent sexual imagery''--and I just wanted to check that neither of you would be terribly offended by that. |
| 244 | * CuteAndPsycho: The third series us to Steve Fleming, MP, who is a spectacularly unstable version of this trope; that cheerful grin, the slightly creepy compliments and the "call me Uncle Steve" attitude you see when you first meet him? Get him even slightly agitated and his AxCrazy side will come to the fore. The scary part comes when he desperately tries to suppress his insanity, swinging from StepfordSmiler to UnstoppableRage and back again so violently you wonder he doesn't give himself whiplash. |
| 245 | * DatingCatwoman: Emma and Olly. Well. He's working for the Secretary of State for Social Affairs and Citizenship, she's working for the shadow Dosac secretary. But then their bosses know about their relationship and his at least actively encourages it -just so Olly can leak policies to Emma, or know of hers. It also works the other way round. However, it's not clear that they actually even like each other... |
| 246 | * ADayInTheLimelight: The Number 10 press office gets this in series two, episode one. It's also technically Malcolm's, as this was before he became a one-man SpotlightStealingSquad. |
| 247 | * DeadManWalking: Malcolm in "The Rise of the Nutters", to Ben Swain, who self-destructed on television: |
| 248 | -->''[Ben enters a party]'' Oh, here he is. Dead man walking. |
| 249 | * DeadpanSnarker: Most characters to some extent: |
| 250 | ** Glenn Cullen. "The new administration? Listen to The First Lady!" |
| 251 | ** Peter Mannion snarks for the Opposition: |
| 252 | --->'''Stewart Pearson:''' Ah, Peter! Glad we could hook up! I just wanted to take a few turns with you on the ideas carousel...\ |
| 253 | '''Peter Mannion:''' Oh, you mean you wanted to have a chat? |
| 254 | ** Nicola Murray stands out in her introduction, when she bites back at Malcolm's probing into her personal life. |
| 255 | * DeathGlare: "Have I got my bollocking face on? No no, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89ojjeWBQ-0 this]]'' is my bollocking face." |
| 256 | ** It is also worth remembering that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik_RE2NEO3A paper jams]] do ''not'' fall within Malcolm's remit. |
| 257 | ** [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/extra/video/p0052098 "Malcolm, I've got a lot on... not a problem."]] |
| 258 | * DecoyProtagonist: |
| 259 | ** Non-death example: The series begins with a minister entering his office, greeting his staff, and getting ready for a meeting with Malcolm. Then, in the meeting, Malcolm suddenly forces him to resign. Quick cut, and Hugh Abbott appears. Basically, rather than AnyoneCanDie, this is Anyone Can Be Sacked. |
| 260 | ** Hugh Abbot was arguably the main character of the first two seasons before the focus shifted towards Malcolm. |
| 261 | * DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: |
| 262 | ** In one of his arguments with Phil, Ollie remarks: "I hope your blog gets done for libel and you get knobbed in prison by men." |
| 263 | ** And in "Spinners and Losers": |
| 264 | --->'''Nick:''' Tom's not sure about you. |
| 265 | --->'''Malcolm:''' Yeah, well Tom is enormously mental in the head, as we've been discussing. |
| 266 | ** Jamie: |
| 267 | -->"Tom is going to get a pint glass in his eye, and a pool cue up his arse, and... another pool cue in his other fuckin' eye!" |
| 268 | * DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: [[spoiler:Malcolm]] in his [[FishOutOfWater futile attempts]] to adjust to life outside politics: |
| 269 | --> ''(answering phone) "Hello, Phillip Schofield, I fuck lobsters for money."'' |
| 270 | * DidntSeeThatComing: A regular occurrence, due to every character's ChronicBackstabbingDisorder and resultant [[GambitPileup Gambit Pileups]]. Of note: |
| 271 | ** The end of "Spinners and Losers". |
| 272 | ** Malcolm failing to predict the Goolding Enquiry. |
| 273 | * DirtyCoward: The characters have a tendency to brag about the latest heroic scheme they're plotting or the stand they're planning to take, before chickening out of it at the last minute: |
| 274 | --> '''Hugh Abbott:''' I'm going to go in to the PM and tell him straight up: this bill is a load of old bollocks! \ |
| 275 | '''Glenn Cullen:''' No, you're not.\ |
| 276 | '''Hugh Abbott:''' No, I'm not, but it'd be great if I did, wouldn't it? |
| 277 | ** For all his flaws, the only character who isn't a coward or a hypocrite is Malcolm: he's never afraid of facing his enemies or getting his hands dirty. |
| 278 | ** Even this is subverted in Series 4, when [[spoiler: Malcolm begins plotting a coup behind Nicola's back and assuring her of his loyalty. Although that's explained more as him being interested in the future of the party and it having a viable leader who can win the next election rather than someone who blathers about ''quiet bat-people''; in essence, he's loyal to the party over any one particular person leading it.]] |
| 279 | * DisorganizedOutlineSpeech: |
| 280 | -->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' And it better not be too boring, and it better not be too interesting either, okay? And it better not cost too much. It can't be an old thing, obviously, and don't make it too new.\ |
| 281 | '''Ben Swain:''' Oh, for fuck's sake... |
| 282 | * {{Dissimile}}: "I'm going to need you to make like a tree and go fuck yourselves" from Malcolm. |
| 283 | * TheDitz: |
| 284 | ** Robyn. "I've leaked ''nothing''! Other than accidentally, obviously." |
| 285 | ** John Duggan manages to make Robyn look like a HypercompetentSidekick in comparison: |
| 286 | --->'''Ollie Reader:''' I'm not being horrible but are you actually autistic?\ |
| 287 | '''John Duggan:''' No, I'm not... but you'd be surprised how many people ask me that. |
| 288 | * TheDogBitesBack: |
| 289 | ** In "Spinners and Losers", when it looks like Ben Swain has a slight chance of becoming the next Prime Minister, Ollie--who has been positioning himself as Swain's right-hand man--decides it's time to start throwing his weight around with Malcolm. It lasts about a minute before Malcolm shoots him down and [[ItMakesSenseInContext bluntly orders him to go and buy some cheese]]. And in any case, events soon prove that Ollie really should have made sure Swain had more than what turned out to be a ''very'' slight chance of becoming PM. |
| 290 | ** Through Series 4, Helen remains loyal to Nicola despite an increasing torrent of abuse in her direction. After [[spoiler:Nicola's firing]], Helen uses her loyalty to trick Nicola into an utterly humiliating video interview with the hack in a pork chop costume who has been harassing her most of the series. |
| 291 | ** A subtle example in episode 3 of Series 4. The receptionist of the hotel in which Stewart is holding his thought camp responds to his obnoxiousness by being obsfucating when it comes to returning his phone shortly afterwards. She also directs him to the children's slide (leading to embarassing photos on Twitter), claiming that it's the best place to get reception - Emma being able to take a call elsewhere suggests it wasn't his only option. |
| 292 | * DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Malcolm telling Nicola not to take a job in America sounds suspiciously like he is begging her not to leave him. But it's all for the good of the party, obviously, nothing personal. |
| 293 | * DontExplainTheJoke: |
| 294 | ** Someone desperately needs to explain this concept to press officer John Duggan. |
| 295 | ** After Hugh asks "What's a circle jerk?" Ollie gets most of the way through explaining before realizing this was a bad idea. |
| 296 | * DoorDumb: Fergus manages to push a revolving door the wrong way, but to be fair he is desperately trying to escape the press. Glenn rescues him, but naturally [[BeleagueredAssistant gets no thanks for it.]] |
| 297 | * DoubleTake: |
| 298 | ** Malcolm does an especially priceless one when he discovers Hugh eating biscuits in the pantry. |
| 299 | ** Ollie does another during Nicola's Fourth Sector launch, when he notices Malcolm [[DeathGlare Death Glaring]] at him through a glass wall. |
| 300 | * DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Malcolm is about to be locked up and Glenn might follow him, Ollie's taking Malcolm's job just after we find out how emotionally and spiritually draining it is, Nicola's doomed to a backbench position, Stewart's been sacked, nothing has changed in politics whatsoever and Terri can't start up her tea shop]]. |
| 301 | * TheDragon: |
| 302 | ** While his boss was more of an AntiHero than a full on villain, Jamie functions as a rather competent Dragon for Malcolm. That said, he did have some ambitions of his own, which may account for his absence in the third series. |
| 303 | ** In Season 4, much to his own surprise, [[spoiler: Ollie]] becomes Malcolm's new sidekick. |
| 304 | * DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Tickel, the nurse who was forced out of his home by government policies, kills himself in Episode 3 of Season 4.]] |
| 305 | * DudeNotFunny: |
| 306 | ** Steve Fleming's ill-advised [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7371959.stm Josef Fritzl]] joke goes down like a lead balloon. When ''Ollie'' is making the "eeeesh" face at you, you know you've gone too far. |
| 307 | ** Similarly, Adam shushing Phil's bad taste remarks after the news of [[spoiler: Mr Tickel's suicide.]] Adam wasn't above mocking [[spoiler: Mr Tickel when he was alive]], but clearly considers Phil's behaviour to be a bit beyond the pale. |
| 308 | ** Ollie isn't above these either. There's the time where mocks special needs children...in front of Glenn, who has a special needs child. And keeps going after Hugh calls him out. When he mocks Glenn over Malcolm punching him in Season Three, saying Glenn being "not technically a woman." Malcolm shoots Ollie a DeathGlare and tells him to zip it. |
| 309 | ** In "Rise of the Nutters", Terri snaps at Ollie for using the term "nutters" as her sister works in mental health. |
| 310 | * DudeWheresMyRespect: Malcolm has fought ''so hard'' for the party. If ''The Missing [=DoSAC=] Files'' are to be believed, however, no one has an ounce of respect for him after the election. The e-mail exchange regarding the titular missing files is also indicative that people aren't taking Malcolm very seriously any more. The replies are snarky almost down to the last man. It's still hard to picture the characters saying any of those things to his face, however... and Ollie seems appropriately scared piss-less. |
| 311 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: |
| 312 | ** Glenn loudly calls Terri a [[CountryMatters cunt]] in the first episode. It seems incredibly jarring compared to his fuddy-duddy demeanour in later episodes and series. |
| 313 | ** Ollie and Glenn smoke outside while pondering their potential resignations at the end of series one. They're never shown to be smokers otherwise. |
| 314 | ** In the first two seasons, Terri is a quietly competent employee who simply can't be arsed to care about party politics (and the whole department fell apart when Robyn had to cover for her). From season 3 onward she's just a complete idiot. |
| 315 | * EnragedByIdiocy: Part of Malcolm's daily routine involves berating everyone else for their incompetence. |
| 316 | * ErmineCapeEffect: Played with by Julius Nicholson when he is made Lord Nicholson of Arnage. He laments that he won't be allowed to wear his ceremonial robes--including an actual ermine cape--on the [[UsefulNotes/TheLondonUnderground Tube]] or the bus, "but I would, it would be great larks!" |
| 317 | * EspeciallyZoidberg: |
| 318 | -->'''Terri Coverley''': Do they all hate it? ''The Times''? |
| 319 | -->'''Malcolm Tucker''': Especially ''The Times''. |
| 320 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: |
| 321 | ** Malcolm Tucker with the first line he speaks in the series ("As useless as a marzipan dildo."), and his first action: first reassuring Cliff Lawton that the Prime Minister doesn't want him to resign after a less-than-stellar run...and then comes "That's what makes it so difficult..." |
| 322 | ** Cal Richards is introduced with a KickTheDog moment--"jokingly" telling Stewart Pearson he's been sacked--which immediately tells the viewer [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor what a cruel sense of humour he has]]. |
| 323 | --->'''Peter Mannion:'''"I'm sensing a change of management style here, from touchy-feely to smashy-testes. |
| 324 | * EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: The published script book includes a section entitled "Malcolm's Sent Items". Among the threats of sexual violence sent to [=DoSAC=] staff there is one very polite email addressed to "Isobel Tucker" and beginning "Dear Mam..." |
| 325 | * EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Opposition communications director Cal Richards, colloquially and scarily referred to as simply "The Fucker". |
| 326 | * EvilCounterpart: While calling anyone on this show ''more'' evil than anyone else is a matter of semantics at best, Season 3 Episode 8 shows The Fucker is basically Malcolm's. |
| 327 | * EvilDuo: Malcolm and Jamie have unique ways of controlling their enemies. Malcolm uses his frightening degree of charm to manipulate them. Jamie threatens to push iPods up their penises. |
| 328 | ** Except when they're beneath Malcolm's dignity to manipulate, in which case he just shouts a lot. With rather colourful turns of phrase. Jamie is Malcolm without the people skills. |
| 329 | * ExactWords: In the first episode, Hugh Abbot's first day as Secretary of State for Social Affairs gets off to a bad start when he goes to launch his new policy, under the impression that he has received the Prime Minister's enthusiastic approval. On his way to the launch, Malcolm rings him up and angrily tells him what the P.M. actually meant. |
| 330 | -->'''Malcolm''': What did the Prime Minister actually say to you? |
| 331 | -->'''Hugh''': He actually said, "This is exactly the kind of thing we should be doing." |
| 332 | -->'''Malcolm''': What did he actually say? |
| 333 | -->'''Hugh''': He said, "This is exactly the sort of thing we should be doing." |
| 334 | -->'''Malcolm''': Should be doing. "Should" does not mean "yes". |
| 335 | * ExpectingSomeoneTaller: Ollie had been expecting someone taller than Steve Fleming. |
| 336 | -->'''Ollie Reeder:''' For a man who brought us back into power, he's not very imposing is he? He's like a Lego policeman. |
| 337 | * ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Malcolm's hair is white in the final season. This was Capaldi's own hair, but was left in as it reflected how the character had experienced a mental breakdown before then - it serves to remind the audience that even though he's functional now, the experience has left him permanently scarred. |
| 338 | * EyeTake: Malcolm gets several per episode, but his most epic was probably a close-up of his eyes as they scanned the headline [[spoiler:MALCOLM TUCKER RESIGNS]]. |
| 339 | * FaceHeelTurn: In Season Four, [[spoiler: Ollie culminating in how he helps destroy Nicola's career, betrays his friend Glenn, and betrays Malcolm by leaking news of his arrest to the media.]] Although given that Ollie was always a bit of a duplicitous, sleazy jerk, the shift from "Face" to "Heel" isn't incredibly far. |
| 340 | * {{Facepalm}}: |
| 341 | ** Terri does this during Nicola's speech at ''The Guardian'' lunch. |
| 342 | ** Glenn does it in the sixth episode of season three when Terri talks back to Malcolm. |
| 343 | ** Adam does it during the Golding Enquiry when Phil compares him and Adam to silverbacks and when his offensive emails are read out. |
| 344 | * FanDisservice: The (thankfully) deleted scene from season three in which ''Glenn pulls''. Although Ollie and Nicola's running commentary while spying on Glenn and the woman is pure gold and deserves to be enjoyed. |
| 345 | * FatIdiot: The Right Honourable Ben Swain MP, a junior minister in [=DoSAC=] under Hugh Abbot, is rather overweight and so amazingly dumb that one of the first things Nicola Murray does is sack him. (Swain gets sent over to the Department of Education...) |
| 346 | ** His stupidity during a crisis angers Malcolm so much that he makes him stand in a corner and gives him an unplugged keyboard to play with. |
| 347 | * FauxAffablyEvil: |
| 348 | ** Malcolm Tucker is perfectly capable of being very polite when it suits him. It usually suits him as the setup for a string of abuse so painful you may find it psychologically impossible to move for several minutes afterward. |
| 349 | ** On the rare occasions he tries charm rather than screaming, Jamie's even worse, since he's unable to effectively conceal his seething, abusive nature. |
| 350 | ** Ollie can appear quite charming and good-natured - but he'll have no trouble cheerfully betraying you in a bid for power. |
| 351 | * FauxDocumentary: The series is shot like this and supposed to be this, but is made impossible because there's ''no way'' that any of the characters would allow it to be made - the politicians attempting to control the media forms a huge backbone of the theme, and the 'documentary' constantly displays them to be the ineffectual, foul-mouthed hypocrites that they are not allowed to be. |
| 352 | * {{Flanderization}}: |
| 353 | ** Throughout the first two series and the Specials, Terri is a reasonably motivated and competent civil servant. By the third series she becomes noticeably stupider, lazier and more useless, to the the point where even the Opposition refer to her as "the useless one". She also becomes ''one hell'' of a lot bitchier. [[spoiler: However, it's revealed in the fourth season that she's actually trying to get out with a redundancy package.]] |
| 354 | ** Same goes for Phil. In his first appearances during the first special (and the Opposition Extra that runs concurrent with the second special), he's an inexperienced and easily-jangled but fairly savvy worker with a desire to pony up to Peter Mannion and an obsession with the 80s. However, during the third series, he starts behaving ''very'' unprofessionally in his attempts to mess with Ollie, and in the finale, he's judged useless enough to be delegated to coffee duties. By the fourth series, he's little more than a useless, immature "8-year-old trapped in the body of a 12-year-old," about whom every interaction ends with either a punchline about how much he loves sci-fi and fantasy or something about him sucking up to Peter; admittedly, the worst of his uselessness is partly due to the fact that he's no longer teamed up with Emma. |
| 355 | ** Glenn Cullen's age is played up more as the series progresses. He goes from being the more overtly harsh advisor to Hugh, to being an out-of-touch old man in later seasons. |
| 356 | * FlatCharacter: As Glenn observes of Emma, she's "just your standard-issue insipid posh bitch - that's all!" |
| 357 | * FlippingTheBird: Done beautifully (if surreptitiously) by Glenn: Julius asks him to hold up his fingers to count something and while he's talking, Glenn slowly lowers his fingers except for the middle one and keeps flipping the bird to Julius's face for a while. |
| 358 | * FloweryInsults: The series is living proof that this trope and ClusterFBomb are perfectly capable of living together and having lots of inventively sweary babies. |
| 359 | * FoodFight: Julius Nicholson gets helplessly pelted with food by the Caledonian Mafia. Probably slightly more one-sided than the trope suggests. |
| 360 | -->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' Have some fuckin' chow mein! |
| 361 | * ForgetsToEat: |
| 362 | ** Being a total workaholic, Malcolm seems to do this. |
| 363 | ** Adam in "Spinners and Losers". Angela tells him to eat something because "your blood sugar's low, it makes you very irritable." |
| 364 | * ForgottenAnniversary: Well, Peter's wife Tina thinks he's forgotten. Actually, he says he left a card on the kitchen table; it's in his pocket. |
| 365 | * FreudianThreat: Comes up when Malcolm is castigating hapless press aide John Duggan. |
| 366 | -->'''Duggan''': Malcolm, you're really scaring me now. |
| 367 | -->'''Tucker''': I'm scaring you? I'm so sorry I'm fucking scaring you. I mustn't scare you, must I? I won't scare you, okay? I'm just gonna explain to you what I'm gonna fuckin' do to you. I'm gonna take your fuckin' bollocks, I'm gonna rip them off, I'm gonna paint eyeballs on 'em. And I'm gonna stitch them onto a fuckin' soap and use THAT as our new mouthpiece. |
| 368 | * FreudianTrio: Malcolm is the Ego, Ollie is the Id, Glenn is the Superego. |
| 369 | * FunnyBackgroundEvent: |
| 370 | ** Ollie cluelessly wandering into shot during Terri's public apology over the e-mail fracas. |
| 371 | ** Hugh's interview with Angela Heaney, interrupted by a furious Malcolm, who takes him outside to assault him with a barely-muted, Atomic Cluster F-Bomb bollocking. Meanwhile in the foreground, Angela and Terri calmly discuss tea and biscuits. |
| 372 | ** Jamie is the king of this trope. In [=S1E4=] he's often seen in the background tag-teaming victims with Malcolm, shoving people around (even women), and at one point becomes literally hopping mad. In the first special he entertains us by fellating his pen behind Julius Nicholson's back. |
| 373 | ** Emma's brother Affers really is a very slow fucker-offer. |
| 374 | * FunWithAcronyms: |
| 375 | ** "He says he wants you at [[UsefulNotes/{{Whitehall}} Number 10]] ASAFP". As this order came from Malcolm the F probably didn't stand for "feasibly" as Glenn innocently suggests. |
| 376 | ** The Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship itself of course: "I've got no fuckin' idea what that means either but it spells 'SAC'." |
| 377 | ** [=NOMFuP=]: "N-O-M-F-P. Not My Fucking Problem. I quite like that. Did you like that? I'll use that quite a lot today." |
| 378 | * GambitPileup: |
| 379 | ** "Spinners and Losers" provided a glorious example. In the chaos following the Prime Minister's resignation, everyone spies opportunities to better their position and all hell breaks loose: [=MPs=] launch leadership bids, spin doctors launch smear campaigns to derail those bids, aides suck up to the potential new leaders, everyone strives to keep their dastardly plots from everyone else and numerous spanners get thrown into the works. Rising tensions lead to paranoia, {{Angrish}} and even a FoodFight... before they discover that for all but one man, their plotting was for nothing. |
| 380 | ** The latter half of Series 3 shows Malcolm butting heads with rival communications man Steve Fleming. Both men attempt to stamp their own authority and agendas onto [=DoSAC=], and both plunge the department into embarrassment and chaos, as they make badly-planned, spontaneous, ad-hoc decisions in reaction to one another. |
| 381 | -->'''Ollie Reeder''': Well, Steve Fleming likes the idea- |
| 382 | -->'''Malcolm Tucker''': Never mind what Mummy says, just do what Daddy says, right? |
| 383 | * GayBravado: Malcolm Tucker loves this, and uses it with practically every other male character, often combined with NoSenseOfPersonalSpace. |
| 384 | -->'''Jamie''': "I'm not leaving it to you, eh? You couldn't organise a bumrape in a barracks." |
| 385 | -->'''Malcolm Tucker''': "Au contraire..." |
| 386 | -->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' I'm in Thailand. In a sex spa. About to get a fuckin' facial.\ |
| 387 | '''Malcolm Tucker:''' ''(to Ben Swain, about Dan Miller)'' "We're lovers. Deal with it. |
| 388 | * GeekyAnalogy: Attempted by Malcolm Tucker. Trying to convince resident [[spoiler:''Franchise/StarWars]] fan Ollie Reeder to support his plan to get rid of [[spoiler:Opposition Leader Nicola Murray]], he uses perhaps the worst analogy in history. |
| 389 | -->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' What's that film that you love? The one about the fucking hairdresser. The space hairdresser and the cowboy. The guy's... he's got a tinfoil pal and a pedal bin. His father's a robot and he's fuckin' fucked his sister. Lego! They're all made of fucking Lego.\ |
| 390 | '''Ollie:''' [[spoiler: "...Franchise/StarWars?"]] |
| 391 | * TheGhost: |
| 392 | ** JB, who is only ever referred to by his initials, is the young, inexperienced, upper-class Leader of the Opposition in the Specials and Series 3. JB is a modernist and has hired Stewart Pearson to change his party's seemingly old-fashioned, backward image and broaden its appeal, which irritates members of the party old guard, such as Peter Mannion. He is reluctant to commit to firm policies before the election. According to Mannion, he and the members of his "Eton clique," despite ostensibly heading up the progressive wing of the party, enjoy texting offensive jokes to each other, something Stewart dismisses as "ironising". In Series 4, JB is now Prime Minister in a Coalition government that is overseeing austerity measures (referred to by Malcolm Tucker as "JB's barmy army"). He is a parody of UsefulNotes/DavidCameron. |
| 393 | ** "Fatty" is an MP who holds a ministerial post in the MOD, though survives the reshuffle at the start of Series 3. He is not held in particularly high regard by Malcolm or Jamie at Number 10, and is only referred to by his weight, having been rewarded with a hamper by Malcolm in Series 4. He evidently remains a senior figure within the party. Right after Nicola's resignation, however, Malcolm orders Ollie to show Fatty a picture (not shown on-screen but deemed extremely upsetting by Ollie) as a form of blackmail to ensure he shelves the leadership ambitions he still held up to that point. |
| 394 | ** Pat Morrissey, referred to with epithets about her weight, such as "Fat Pat" or "Pumpkin Tits", plays a publicity or communications role with the office of the Prime Minister. It is not clear exactly what her position is, but she is a frequent competitor with Malcolm for power and influence within the party. Formerly worked for ITN, before becoming a "Nutter", a supporter of Tom Davis within the Number 10 press office. She remains part of the party communications team during Series 4, moving to the Norman Shaw Buildings. |
| 395 | ** Douglas Tickel was a nurse that became homeless after his key-worker housing was sold off and refused alternative accommodation. He took up residence in a tent as a protest against the policy, committing suicide in episode 4.3. Tickel had intense mental health issues that became evident after the leaking of his confidential medical records. After Glenn and Terri's leak in episode 4.5, the media gains hold of a chain of offensive emails from members of the Government targeted towards Tickel's mental troubles, including such quotes such as "the fucker's a nutbag" from Emma. His death and the illegal leaking of his medical records later sparked the Goolding Inquiry into the "culture of leaking". |
| 396 | * GirlyRun: Malcolm Tucker is an aggressive, foul-mouthed, violent alpha male...who runs like a girl. |
| 397 | * GiverOfLameNames: Nicola describing reliable members of the community as "Quiet Bat People". It makes Ollie's suggestion of [[WesternAnimation/TheWombles "Wombles"]] sound sensible. |
| 398 | * GoKartingWithBowser: |
| 399 | ** In ''The Missing [=DoSAC=] Files'', it's revealed that Malcolm occasionally plays tennis with Cal Richards, the Opposition's emergency PR man, and that he's on good terms with Richards' family. Malcolm considers himself and Richards to be "the only sane ones left". |
| 400 | ** [[SitcomArchNemesis Deadly enemies]] Peter and Stewart have a friendly bonding moment, watching Fergus give a press conference, and talking about how much they hate him. |
| 401 | * GoodCopBadCop: Averted. Malcolm and Jamie have been referred to as a Bad Cop/Bad Cop double-act. |
| 402 | -->'''Ollie to Jamie''': When I met you this morning, I thought you were the nice Scot! |
| 403 | ** Referenced by Nicola Murray in a later scene: while being "gang-bollocked" by Malcolm and Steve Fleming, she calls them "Good Cock/Bad Cock" respectively. |
| 404 | * {{Gotterdammerung}}: [=S04E07=], [[spoiler:Malcolm and Stewart Pearson lose their jobs, signalling the end of 'the age of spin', at least with regards their management styles]]. |
| 405 | * GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: The Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship ([=DoSAC=]), created on account of the Prime Minister's preference for "joined-up government" (a sly reference to some of the weirder departments cooked up by UsefulNotes/TonyBlair and Peter Mandelson). |
| 406 | * GranolaGirl: |
| 407 | ** Stewart Pearson is a male example. He drinks herbal tea, cycles everywhere in full reflective jacket and safety helmet instead of taking official cars, made Peter Mannion install a wind turbine on his roof, refuses to wear suits or business attire and is probably far too left-wing for the right-wing party he works for: |
| 408 | --->'''Peter Mannion:''' Oh great, what did Mr Political-Correctness-Gone-Boring have to say? |
| 409 | ** Nicola Murray has shades of this with her dependence on Rescue Remedy and her dubious plan to outlaw plastic toys. |
| 410 | * GroinAttack: When Phil gleefully tells Ollie [[spoiler:Emma has dumped him]] before Emma can break the news herself, Ollie assaults him with a cup of hot coffee to the groin. |
| 411 | -->'''Phil Smith:''' It's a dark suit and it's only lukewarm, I STILL WIN! |
| 412 | * HairTriggerTemper: Malcolm and Jamie are both possessors of very, very short fuses for anger. Jamie might have the edge, however; generally, Malcolm's anger is usually focussed and prompted by other people's incompetence and stupidity, whereas Jamie just seems perpetually on the edge of snapping into loud, violent anger even at merely hypothetical provocations. |
| 413 | * HandshakeSubstitute: Adam and Fergus and their brofist hand bumping. [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy It looks absolutely ridiculous.]] |
| 414 | * HatedByAll: Malcolm receives a birthday cake with the message "Happy birthday, c*nt" on it. He wryly notes that "this could be from anybody." |
| 415 | * HatesBeingNicknamed: Inverted with Steve Fleming, when Julius Nicholson refers to him as "Stephen", Fleming yells back "Steve!" |
| 416 | * HauledBeforeASenateSubCommittee: |
| 417 | ** Hugh and the Select Committee: "[[ConfusingMultipleNegatives I categorically did not knowingly not tell the truth. Even though unknowingly I might not have done.]]" |
| 418 | ** The Goolding Inquiry into the "culture of blame" hauls the entire cast in for investigation. |
| 419 | * HesBack: In series 3 , Malcolm Tucker is sacked. We then see him slumped on his sofa looking depressed in between his futile attempts to find a fulfilling career outside politics. When he eventually returns to work in casual clothes and looking like he's spent most of his time off crying it is genuinely disturbing. Happily he's soon charged with managing the party's election campaign, and the minute he gets back into a suit he reverts to his usual intimidating self. Sam's happy face says it all. |
| 420 | ** Also subverted when former minister Cliff Lawton wants to stage a political comeback. |
| 421 | -->'''Cliff''': To put it simply, I'm back! |
| 422 | -->'''Jamie''': Oh fuck off, Cliff! |
| 423 | * HeroOfAnotherStory: |
| 424 | ** If Julie Price from [=S3E4=] were in a Creator/KenLoach film, she'd be the hero and main character. Unfortunately for her, she's a character in a Creator/ArmandoIannucci comedy, and is therefore [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom doomed]] to be a minor character. |
| 425 | ** Claire Ballentyne MP, who appears to have wandered in from some sort of UK version of ''Series/TheWestWing'', where politicians are clever, caring and responsible. [[spoiler: Until it turns out she's unelectable as leader because of her ongoing online gambling addiction, anyway.]] |
| 426 | * HeterosexualLifePartners: Fergus and Adam seem to have this relationship going on. In an office environment where most of the time everyone hates each others guts, it notably sticks out how much they genuinely enjoy each other's company and always have each other's backs. |
| 427 | * HeyThatsMyLine: Whilst lacking a specific catchphrase,Malcolm Tucker is known for his frequent use of extremely coarse language when criticizing his colleagues, to the point when MP Nicola Murray uses a similarly colorful phrase on him, he responds appropriately: |
| 428 | -->'''Nicola''': You're about as on the ball today as a dead seal. |
| 429 | -->'''Malcolm''': Hey, that's one of my fucking lines! |
| 430 | * HiddenDepths: During the sixth episode of Season Three, Terri has balls big enough to point out a number of recent mistakes Malcom has made and that he is off his game. Asking for a private word (seemingly for a world-class bollocking) [[spoiler: Malcom takes the opportunity to rage honestly about the sheer extent of stress he is under while apologizing to Terri and admitting she's right in him generally floundering. The scene and the ReasonYouSuckSpeech delivered to Ollie in the final episode offer a rare glimpse of Malcom expressing weakness and the sheer pressure his job puts him under.]] |
| 431 | * HiddenDisdainReveal: When Glenn resigns, he lets his colleagues know how much he hates them, including Terri, who he had been close to throughout the series. Judging by the look on her face, she's utterly hurt. |
| 432 | * HighTurnoverRate: The Minister for Social Affairs (and Citizenship). Terri remarks that she has served under five different ministers, or, as she puts it, "a box-set". She said this in the very first episode, and she has now served under eight. The show chronicles the careers of four of these ministers - Cliff Lawton, Hugh Abbott, Nicola Murray and Peter Mannion. |
| 433 | -->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' ''(to Cliff Lawton)'' You have had a good innings! You have been here, for ''eighteen months''! |
| 434 | * HoistbyHisOwnPetard: A double version occurs in the final season. [[spoiler:Malcolm manipulates Nicola Murray, the Party's incompetent leader, into calling for an enquiry into the death of a mentally ill nurse who killed himself after becoming homeless due to a policy the Opposition introduced when they took power. After calling for the enquiry, Murray remembers that she herself supported the policy when the Party was in power, and resigns in disgrace, with Malcolm telling her that the enquiry will probably result in her suffering serious consequences, which he sees as fitting punishment for her dragging the Party down for two years. However, the PM expands the scope of the enquiry to cover the culture of leaking in Westminster. By the time Nicola is called, she is so far beneath their notice they don't even listen to her testimony, while the enquiry discovers that Malcolm leaked the nurse's private medical records to the media, and he is eventually arrested.]] |
| 435 | * HowDidYouKnowIDidnt: Hugh Abbott accidentally sends an e-mail saying "Christ! What a cunt!" to a little girl using Terri's PC. Terri calls him out on this, claiming that she saw him use the PC. Hugh promptly admits that he did send the e-mail, before Terri says that she was bluffing and she didn't see them. Hugh then says that he knew she didn't know, and was only admitting because it was the right thing to do. |
| 436 | * HumblePie: Mentioned by name: after Nicola has "laid [her] first great, big egg of solid fuck", Malcolm explains that there actually is a way to limit the fallout from her incredibly stupid mistake, but it would involve her "eating an entire concrete mixer full of humble pie". While Nicola clearly didn't enjoy having to give an interview to the smug journalist who was causing the trouble, this particular humiliation was pretty mild compared to the things the characters normally end up doing on this show. |
| 437 | * HumiliationConga: |
| 438 | ** Ollie has to dance one in "Spinners and Losers", breaking up with his girlfriend and in the process, hilariously admitting he only stayed with her because Malcolm forced him to. He is then forced to make up with her so he can use her to leak a policy (which she sees through right away), before being reduced to the status of "cheese monitor" and mocked for it by Emma and his ArchEnemy Phil. |
| 439 | ** Series 4, Episode 5. Nobody is safe from the monumental screwup. |
| 440 | * HypercompetentSidekick: Malcolm Tucker is this to the ENTIRE Labour Party. He's the only character in the series who is competent. |
| 441 | * {{Hypocrite}}: Hugh is one over Flatgate, Nicola is one over... well, everything really. |
| 442 | * HypocriticalHumour: |
| 443 | ** Ben Swain: "I ''have'' been interviewed on television before..." |
| 444 | ** Malcolm aggressively orders Robyn to ensure the next day's media coverage will make him look "FUCKIN' BENIGN". |
| 445 | ** In the party conference episode Malcolm suggests that two people look anorexic, while he's looking [[LeanAndMean thinner than ever]]. |
| 446 | ** Malcolm on the phone to a journalist: ''That's an incredibly homophobic headline, you massive poof." |
| 447 | ** Julius Nicholson on the crime stats enquiry: "I had to come down upon [[spoiler:Steve Fleming]] like a ton of bricks, totally unfairly, just to protect my unimpeachable reputation for fairness!" |
| 448 | ** One of Malcolm's [[EvilPlan Evil Plans]] leads to Steve Fleming being photographed discussing the crime stats enquiry with Julius Nicholson. One newspaper runs the photograph with the headline "Give us the bald facts", causing uber-bitch Terri to remark: "Oooh, it's very rude, that. I was always taught not to make personal remarks". |
| 449 | ** Terri also calls Emma "a complete bitch" and reckons Phil "might be simple"... |
| 450 | ** Adam mocks Phil for being ProudToBeAGeek, but refers Phil and Peter as [[Franchise/HarryPotter "Malfoy and his Dad"]], and to the Government party as [[Franchise/HarryPotter Slytherin]]. (Begging the question, does Adam see himself as a Gryffindor, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff?) |
| 451 | * IAmSpartacus: "It was me. I leaked it." Poor Glenn. |
| 452 | * [[IAmTheTrope I Am The Fucking Trope]]: Malcolm has a thing for making these wild proclamations. |
| 453 | -->''I'' am at the heart of government--I ''am'' the heart of government! I am the fucking aorta, and the fucking ventricles!\ |
| 454 | I ''am'' the fucking matrix!\ |
| 455 | '''Ollie Reeder:''' Are you out of the loop?\ |
| 456 | '''Malcolm Tucker:''' Fuck you [[TheNicknamer Andy Pandy]], I ''am'' the loop... |
| 457 | * ICallHimMisterHappy: "Remember you and Mrs. Mannion on your doorstep, her never going to touch Little Peter again?" |
| 458 | * ICantBelieveImSayingThis: In season four, Emma convinces Peter not to resign, but rather widen the inquiry to look into PFI. Phil actually agrees with her. |
| 459 | -->That is a good idea, really. Fuck, that hurt to say, but she's right. |
| 460 | * IHaveJustOneThingToSay: Various characters are forced to resign throughout the series, and usually exit with a standard TheReasonYouSuck" Speech (deserved or otherwise) or a "fuck you" of some kind to their former allies/enemies, but [[spoiler:Malcolm Tucker]] himself goes with one of these. After his lawyer informs the baying press-pack that his client won't be making a statement, [[spoiler:Malcolm ]]then says "No, I want to say something," and looks like he's gearing himself up for one of his trademark rants - but he says, "It doesn't matter," in a tone of voice that is more exhausted than anything else, and walks off without another word. |
| 461 | ** Possibly played with, because in some ways, that is actually the most devastating condemnation of his line of work and the people in it in the series; it perfectly shows the sheer disgust, weariness and contempt he feels for everything, coupled with demonstrating that he knows nothing he would say would make a difference, and he cares so little that he's not even going to try any more, or even bother thinking up a final insult. |
| 462 | -->'''Peter Mannion:''' Christ, that doesn't even fucking rhyme... |
| 463 | * IKnowYouKnowIKnow: Malcolm and Nick Hanway during a tense game of XanatosSpeedChess: |
| 464 | -->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' Do you know?\ |
| 465 | '''Nick Hanway:''' Yeah, we just found out. So, you know who it is?\ |
| 466 | '''Malcolm Tucker:''' Well, of course I know. I mean, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB3cQOXQ_50 there's nothing that you know, that I don't know]]! I'm [[Film/JamesBond Dr. fucking Know]]! |
| 467 | ** Also, Hugh's bluffing game is tested during his Sweary Woman of Whitehall cock-up: |
| 468 | --->'''Hugh Abbott:''' Just tell me, truthfully. Did you send that email?\ |
| 469 | '''Terri Coverley:''' No I didn't... and ''you know'' I didn't... |
| 470 | * ILikeMyXLikeILikeMyY: Home Secretary Mary Drake states when threatening to subsume DOSAC and put them in charge of the tea run that "I like mine (tea) weak and white, like my men" then again, she was there in her 'angry capacity'. |
| 471 | * ImStandingRightHere: |
| 472 | ** "Watch my lips: ''Cal Richards is not here''- Cal!" |
| 473 | -->'''Hugh Abbot:''' Christ, Malcolm, how do you appear out of nowhere in a building made entirely of glass?\ |
| 474 | '''Malcolm Tucker:''' I'm a shapeshifter. |
| 475 | ** In season four, Fergus and Adam berate Glenn for not redracting an incriminating email he and Terri leaked. Adam starts ranting about Terri. |
| 476 | -->'''Terri''': I am actually here, you know. |
| 477 | -->'''Fergus''': Yeah, and that, in a nutshell, is the whole fucking problem! |
| 478 | * ITakeOffenceToThatLastOne: Any discussion with Malcolm Tucker is usually filled with insults, but even he has his limits: |
| 479 | -->'''Oliver Reeder''': Malcolm! You're bullying me, and I dunno why you're bullying me--\ |
| 480 | '''Malcolm Tucker''': How dare you? ''How dare you?!'' Don't you ever, ''ever'' call me a bully! I'm so much worse than that. |
| 481 | ** More of an InsultBackfire that one... a better example would be Malcolm's attempt to derail Geoff Holhurst's leadership bid: |
| 482 | --->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' First, you've got no credentials — you're so backbench you've actually fuckin' fallen off... secondly, I'm going to tell ''the Mirror'' about all the drinking... and thirdly, I'm going to tell the Mail about the affair... and fourthly, you've got a tiny head...\ |
| 483 | '''Geoff Holhurst:''' No, I haven't! |
| 484 | * IceCreamKoan: "Time is a leash on the dog of ideas." "Knowledge is porridge". Stewart Pearson speaks almost entirely in meaningless PR buzzwords. |
| 485 | * {{Improv}}: The series was composed from several takes: in the first, the script was followed exactly, and later the actors would improvise around the original script. The final scene is pieced together from the funniest elements of both (which is why the camerawork sometimes looks jumpier than the usual JitterCam). |
| 486 | * IncrediblyLamePun: Abbot congratulating Ollie on his (nonexistent) "MALchievellian" tactics. |
| 487 | * InformedDeformity: Geoff Holhurt's tiny head. |
| 488 | * InstantHumiliationJustAddYouTube: An outtake from the party conference episode shows Malcolm dashing away from a [[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers Daily Telegraph]] live podcast. Naturally, it gets put on their website with the headline "Tucker Spurns Our Man On The Ground". Ollie and Nicola gleefully take the piss whilst watching it. |
| 489 | * InsultBackfire: Most insults aimed at Malcolm backfire as he is already fully aware of his bastardry. The tables are turned however when he finds himself in a meeting at The BBC, trying to offend two TV producers with inappropriate comments. One tells him "that's exactly the sort of banter we're looking for!": Unused to such butt-kissing, he responds by looking absolutely terrified. |
| 490 | * InvisiblePresident: The series had two Prime Ministers, neither of whom were seen: |
| 491 | ** We learn that the first PM is obsessed with leaving a "legacy" from his time in office. We also learn from Julius Nicholson that he once tried to have the chief examiner sacked over his son's retake marks. He is a parody of UsefulNotes/TonyBlair. |
| 492 | ** Rt Hon Tom Davis MP succeeds to the premiership during the Specials, having been the likely successor to the previous PM for some time, gathering a large following in the party referred to as the "Nutters". His succession is nearly derailed after Jamie leaked rumours that Tom has bouts of depression and takes anti-depressants. His premiership witnesses the slow decline of this government. He is a parody of UsefulNotes/GordonBrown. |
| 493 | * IrregularSeries: The first two series aired in 2005, followed by specials in 2007, a third series in 2009, then a fourth and final series in 2012. |
| 494 | * IrrevocableMessage: In one episode, Hugh takes a guess at Glenn's personal email address and sends him some humorous vulgarity of the sort used between mates. This leads to Terri being forced to issue a public apology: "I promise that I will never call an eight-year-old girl a cunt again." |
| 495 | * IronLady: OneSceneWonder Mary "Ironblouse" Drake, of the Home Office. |
| 496 | -->"I am here in an ''angry'' capacity." |
| 497 | * InvisiblePresident: The Prime Minister in Series 3, Tom Davis, is never seen or heard. His predecessor didn't even have a name. Tom Davis' replacement, who is the leader of the other party, is referred to only as JB. |
| 498 | * ItAmusedMe: Part of Ben Swain's "Holy Trinity of Why," as explained to Nicola: |
| 499 | -->"I'm bored, it's funny and I hate you." |
| 500 | * ItTastesLikeFeet: Malcolm describes the coffee he makes for his house guests as "so thick and black, it'll be like fucking drinking plimsolls". |
| 501 | * JadeColoredGlasses: Hugh wore them, Malcolm tries to get Nicola to try a pair on, acting as the [[TallDarkAndSnarky Tall, Silver and Snarky]] foil to her [[WideEyedIdealist Wide-eyed Idealist]]: |
| 502 | -->'''Nicola Murray:''' That's what this is all about for you isn't it? Fighting and fucking ''power''! Does it never occur to you that your poisonous, male obsession with conflict is making people despise politics?\ |
| 503 | '''Malcolm Tucker:''' Spare me your fuckin' psycho-fanny! |
| 504 | * {{Jerkass}}: |
| 505 | ** Instead of listing down the many, '''many''' moments Malcolm himself goes round insulting his co-workers, try counting the number of times where he has a conservation ''without'' insulting the person he's speaking to, we'll wait and see. |
| 506 | ** Nutter Nick Hanway is a bit of an unlikeable cock -- happy to steal Ollie's (actually Malcolm's) ideas and take credit, and gleeful in the possibility that he might replace Malcolm in the next reshuffle. |
| 507 | ** Ollie Reeder progressively becomes more and more of a jerk over the course of the series. In Season Four it enters FaceHeelTurn territory. |
| 508 | ** Season Four introduces Fergus and Adam. Glenn considers Adam the most loathsome person he has ever met. |
| 509 | ** Jamie Macdonald, Malcolm's [[TheDragon psychotic sidekick.]] |
| 510 | ** Ben Swain can also be a jerk, particularly when he's jealous. |
| 511 | ** Dan Miller. |
| 512 | ** It would probably be quicker to list the characters who appear in the series and ''aren't'' colossal dicks to the people around them in some way, shape or form. |
| 513 | * JerkassHasAPoint: "Is that the two billion pounds we keep in the biscuit tin?" |
| 514 | * JitterCam: Especially in the first season. |
| 515 | * JustFollowingOrders: |
| 516 | ** Hugh Abbot is about to introduce a new bill about special needs schooling, and gets uncomfortable around an aide who opposes it because he thinks the bill will fail his own child. |
| 517 | --->'''Hugh Abbot:''' Glenn, the special needs bill. With your particular interest, I... I can't do this.\ |
| 518 | '''Glenn Cullen:''' You know my views, you know inclusion is an illusion, it doesn't work.\ |
| 519 | '''Hugh:''' But you don't mind if I go ahead with it.\ |
| 520 | '''Glenn:''' Of course not, look -- you're only following orders.\ |
| 521 | '''Hugh:''' Oh thanks. So you won't make me feel bad, except by comparing me to a concentration camp guard.\ |
| 522 | '''Glenn:''' No, that's right. |
| 523 | ** It continues in Series 3 with incompetent new press officer John Duggan: |
| 524 | --->'''John Duggan:''' I'm Just Following Orders! Like a Nazi guard, [[DudeNotFunny only less gassy]]! ''[sheepish pause]'' You're not Jewish are you? |
| 525 | * KavorkaMan: Olly Reeder is a weaselly, pale, bespectacled prick who looks like a twelve-year-old...and over the course of the series beds Angela Heaney, Emma Messinger from the Opposition, and is also depicted as something of a womanizer. This is really very good going in a series that seldom bothers to look at anyone's private lives (because most of them don't have private lives). This does just apply to the character rather than Chris Addison, the actor who plays him. Chris Addison is quite handsome and something of a {{Bishounen}}. |
| 526 | * KickedUpstairs: Julius Nicholson tries to get involved in the government's public relations activities, treading on the toes of the press officers whose job it is and who actually know what they're doing. He antagonises everyone with his mad policy ideas, to the point where they start to believe he is actually unhinged and dangerous. He is promoted to the position of "Blue-Sky Thinker" to the Prime Minister... a meaningless job title given to him to make him think he has some actual power and to keep him quiet. |
| 527 | -->"I'm spending half of my time now dealing with that rubbish that Nicholson's putting out there... If he does stick his baldy head 'round your door and comes up with some stupid idea about "Policemen's helmets should be yellow" or "Let's set up a department to count the Moon," just treat him like someone with Alzheimer's disease, you know? Just say "yes, that's lovely, that's good, we must talk about that later," okay?" — '''Malcolm Tucker''' |
| 528 | * LameComeback: Phil is notably deficient in wit compared to other special advisers like Ollie or Adam. |
| 529 | -->'''Adam:''' When you get your hair done, what is it you ask for? The Disney Prince?\ |
| 530 | '''Phil:''' Yeah, well what do you ask for? Wanker? |
| 531 | * LamePunReaction: In the penultimate episode of season three, Geoffrey, one of the journalists at Malcolm's house makes a "currying favour" pun. Malcolm's repsonse: |
| 532 | -->Fuck you. Get out of my house. Get out of my fucking house. That's it. I know...I mean, no wonder nobody's fucking buying your paper. |
| 533 | * LaserGuidedKarma: |
| 534 | ** Glenn slams a door in Ollie's face, only to have to same done to him by Malcolm moments later. |
| 535 | ** In series four, Fergus intervenes to block Terri being made redundant, in large part to wind up Peter due to her StalkerWithACrush tendencies towards him. This bites Fergus in the arse several episodes later when Terri's bungling leads to a highly embarrassing leak that implicates him personally in the mess surrounding Tickel. |
| 536 | * LastSecondWordSwap: Ollie does a great one while talking about how to kill Julius Nicholson. |
| 537 | -->'''Hugh Abbott''': Can't we just kill him, shoot him? |
| 538 | -->'''Ollie Reeder''': What about we just fire him at a wall from a cannon, just a wall, two feet away? |
| 539 | -->'''Glenn Cullen''': I know, we force feed him with a mixture of garlic and Dettol in cup-a-soup. |
| 540 | -->'''Hugh Abbott''': What about the old red-hot poker up the arse, Edward II? |
| 541 | -->'''Ollie Reeder''': I'd like to nail him to a tree through the head and watch lice slowly crawl over his body, eating off all the flesh in a slow and painful death- |
| 542 | -->''*Julius Nicholson unexpectedly walks in*'' |
| 543 | -->'''Ollie Reeder''': ...But, that rather bitter anomaly aside, most of the responses to the Warwick Report press cuttings were pretty positive. |
| 544 | ** Malcolm is somewhat less concerned about offending people, and prefers to swap a final word for something ''more'' offensive: |
| 545 | --->[[UnsportsmanlikeGloating Wake up and smell the]] ''[[UnsportsmanlikeGloating cock!]]''\ |
| 546 | Go and make a contribution to Amnesty International! Go and buy a goat the whole village can fuck! |
| 547 | ** Similarly subverted when Nicola complains about John Duggan's ineptitude: "All he's doing is depriving a village somewhere of a twat". |
| 548 | ** From Series 4, Episode 2: |
| 549 | ---> '''Malcolm:''' "What do you think this is? [[Film/TinkerTailorSoldierSpy Tinker Tailor Soldier Cunt]]?" |
| 550 | * LaughingMad: Steve Fleming has an annoying habit of breaking into laughter whenever he loses his temper, which happens frequently. It fools no-one. |
| 551 | * LeanAndMean: Malcolm keeps his weight down by running everywhere, being permanently stressed out, and living on a diet consisting mainly of coffee. Olly Reader likens him to "a thin white Mugabe". |
| 552 | * LeaningOnTheFourthWall: |
| 553 | ** In Series 3 we get to see inside Malcolm's house, and find out his DVD collection includes... ''The Thick of It''. |
| 554 | ** Malcolm's [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/12/malcolm-tucker-election-briefing take on the state of the election]], with typical Tucker flair, in ''The Guardian''. |
| 555 | ** Nicola becomes head of her party during the time skip between seasons 3 and 4 with no explanation. In the third episode of the season Stewart Emma share a joke about not remembering how that happened. |
| 556 | * LeaningOnTheFurniture: |
| 557 | ** Olly tries this in Malcolm's Number 10 office. It does not go down well: "Feet off the furniture, you Oxbridge twat. You're not on a punt now." |
| 558 | ** Jamie does this habitually but gets away with it because most people are terrified of him. |
| 559 | * LegacySeeker: "Rise Of The Nutters" features the (unseen) Prime Minister is trying to leave a suitable legacy in the form of a new immigration programme before he leaves office; unfortunately, thanks to a mixture of backroom politicking and sheer incompetence, it's not long before the whole thing begins spiralling out of control. Among other things, Malcolm Tucker wants to ensure that he remains in a cosy position with the next government in office, so he tries to delay the legacy project in the hope that the PM won't leave until it's done, even resorting to a leak so he can eventually have the programme scrapped and replaced so he can buy more time. [[spoiler: To his shock, the PM gives up on the whole thing and resigns, leaving Malcolm and the others struggling to gain a foothold in the political chaos that ensues.]] |
| 560 | * LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: In the sixth episode of season three, Ben Swain accidentally walks in on Nicola while she's changing clothes for an interview. |
| 561 | -->'''Ben''': I'm very sorry again... |
| 562 | -->'''Nicola''': Let's not talk about it ever again. |
| 563 | -->'''Ben''': I will forget... |
| 564 | * LimitedWardrobe: In Series 3, all of Malcolm's suits are light grey, and sometimes he'll even pair a grey suit with a grey tie. When we see him in casual clothes we discover that practically every other item of clothing he owns is also grey. This could have been a deliberate attempt to match his wardrobe to his hair colour but the grey is also [[AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance very fitting for a press officer who likes to hide in the background]], never becoming the story. |
| 565 | * LockedOutOfTheLoop: In "The Rise Of The Nutters" and "Spinners and Losers", Malcolm Tucker is constantly kept out of the loop despite being the Prime Minister's spin doctor. |
| 566 | * MacGuffin: Nicola's flagship "Fourth Sector Pathfinders" policy initiative. Nobody, both in-universe and out, ever finds out what the hell it means or stands for, other than some mealy-mouthed analogies about cake slicing. A RunningGag is Nicola constantly getting interrupted by phone calls or Terri whenever she attempts to explain. |
| 567 | ** "He is not gettin' anywhere ''near'' ma fuckin' pantry..." |
| 568 | ** The kerfuffle over the missing immigration data is basically an excuse to show how un-media savvy Nicola is. |
| 569 | * MadnessMantra: Glenn has a pretty epic meltdown. |
| 570 | --> I AM IRRELEVANT! I AM IRRELEVANT! I AM IRRELEVANT! '''FUCKING HUGH JUST WANTS TO SPEAK TO TINKY WINKY?!! WELL FUCK TINKY WINKY, FUCK! YOU! TINKY! WINKY!!! AUF WIEDERSEHEN, PET, THE PARTY'S OVER, GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD, WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HITLER?! HE HAD A MOUSTACHE AND HE LIVED OVER THERE?!! FUCK US ALL!!!!''' |
| 571 | ** Steve Fleming MP's last appearance in the series involves him charging down a corridor having resigned the Cabinet and ranting "Fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him!" about Malcolm, who has just heavily intimated that he's figured out a way to screw Steve's plans to screw over the Prime Minister. |
| 572 | * TheMainCharactersDoEverything: In the same way as ''Yes, Minister'', the series invented a similar department that could meddle in many different areas: the Department Of Social Affairs (or Department Of Social Affairs & Citizenship later on). It is hand waved in the show by the fact that even the department's own members don't seem to know what their primary job is. Beyond that it is clear that they mostly get the jobs that the rest of the government doesn't want. |
| 573 | * MaliciousMisnaming: A reasonable chunk of both parties call Mr Tickel (pronounced 'ti-KELL') "Mr Tickle". This comes back to bite them when the emails in which they call them this get leaked. |
| 574 | * MarriedToTheJob: Nearly everyone. |
| 575 | ** Very little about Malcolm's personal life is revealed. This is deliberate: a sub-plot about Malcolm's partner leaving him for journalist Simon Hewitt was cut, and on the DVD commentaries the cast and writers agree that no-one really needs (or wants) to know about his life outside work. He probably doesn't ''have'' one. This is confirmed by Malcolm himself in the last episode of the series, in a haunting yet amazing speech to Ollie. |
| 576 | *** Malcolm wears a wedding ring for most of the run of the series; it's gone by the time he gives evidence to the Goolding Inquiry at the end of Series 4, although it's never referred to. Peter Capaldi does not like to take off his own wedding ring, whatever role he's playing. |
| 577 | ** At the end of Series 3 Episode 7 as Malcolm is returning to his home after 'resigning', there is a small child looking out of the downstairs window. In the last episode of series 4 Malcolm's speech to Ollie includes the words "no kids" so the child at the window evidently wasn't his. |
| 578 | *** Some scenes in Malcolm's office in the same series show that he has what is obviously a small child's artwork taped to the wall. Considering that he refers to himself as having "no children" during his rant to Ollie in the final episode of Series 4, this one's a bit of a puzzler--either he was being metaphorical (since he never sees his kids due to the pressures of his job) or the child in Series 3 is actually a niece/nephew or other relative. (He does mention a young niece he's apparently quite close to in an earlier episode.) |
| 579 | ** A piece of wildly implausible but fun-to-believe fanon holds the Malcolm Tucker's previous life was as [[Series/{{Skins}} Sid Jenkins']] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P753ty9G62k pyschotic-but-loving-in-his-own-special-way]] father. [[spoiler: Presumably Hell spat him back out.]] |
| 580 | ** Hugh Abbott is married with children, but by his own admission he virtually never sees them, and his life has reached a point where taking a dump is treasured personal time. |
| 581 | ** Malcolm's opposite number, Stewart Pearson, also has issues with work-life balance: "I'm an extraordinarily precise man, that's why my wife left me." |
| 582 | ** Nicola Murray's unseen husband seems to get annoyed about her absence from the home. Her children--especially her daughter Ella--are frequently pawns in the power struggle between her and Malcolm, but we never actually meet any of them. |
| 583 | ** Similarly Peter Mannion's unseen wife is annoyed about his work schedule. |
| 584 | ** In Phil's mortifying HeroicBSOD in [=S04E05=], he admits he has nothing else in his life but work. |
| 585 | ** John Duggan claims the reason his marriage broke up was because his ex-wife was not in politics. "She was a Muggle." It's doubtful Nicola and Helen believe him. |
| 586 | * MassOhCrap: |
| 587 | ** At the end of Series 4 Episode 5, everyone on both sides is ''horrified'' at the announcement of [[spoiler: a full enquiry into the whole culture of leaking]]. |
| 588 | ** In a lesser example, Hugh and his colleagues freak out after Hugh discovers that their focus-group-of-one (upon whose advice a disastrous policy was approved) was actually an actor. |
| 589 | * MeanBoss: Malcolm Tucker - foul-mouthed, foul-tempered, brilliantly gifted at his job, and absolutely merciless with the politicians he manages, who compare him to Goebbels. |
| 590 | * MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: Malcolm's PA, Sam, can be seen among the extras in the background throughout the entire Goolding Inquiry. This may be an indication of how closely Malcolm is monitoring the inquiry itself. |
| 591 | * MenDontCry: |
| 592 | ** Played straight with Malcolm. Throughout series three there are several points where he is almost, but not quite, driven to tears. In one episode, an EyeTake reveals his red-rimmed eyes, and we can assume he saved his crying for an off-camera moment. |
| 593 | ** [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clips/p005lmp5/the_thick_of_it_out_of_the_thick_of_it_episode_8/ When asked about that episode]], Creator/ArmandoIannucci said Peter Capaldi played Malcolm "like someone who's been crying for two weeks". |
| 594 | * {{Metaphorgotten}}: |
| 595 | ** Dan Miller: "If you're gonna make an omelette, you're going to have to have some frank and honest discussion with the eggs". |
| 596 | ** Nicola's "self-eating cake" speech. |
| 597 | * MistakenNationality: One of the insulting posts to Peter's blog is "I don't trust you, you Cypriot crook." Prompting the rather obviously [[UsefulNotes/ATouchOfClassEthnicityAndReligion upper middle class]] Peter to say "Cypriot??" |
| 598 | * TheMovie: ''Film/InTheLoop''. |
| 599 | * MoralityPet: Malcolm's PA, Sam. |
| 600 | * MotiveRant: Season 4, Episode 7 has Ollie [[TookALevelInBadass growing a pair]] and pointing out that Malcolm's methods and attitude are outdated. Malcolm responds by really laying bare what his job has done to him, and how "Malcolm" hardly even exists any more, there is only the job which has sucked him dry. |
| 601 | * MundaneMadeAwesome: The events of the party conference episode in series three play out like a SpyDrama, even though it's just Malcolm and Nicola squabbling over who gets to introduce a conference guest. |
| 602 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Malcolm after punching Glenn. Rather than try to joke or bully his way clear, Malcolm seeks Glenn out and profusely apologizes, culminating in a small but effective PetTheDog moment. |
| 603 | * NasalTrauma: During one of the few genuinely violent confrontations in the show, Malcolm Tucker impulsively punches Glen Cullen in the nose. Though it's not actually broken, it does bleed pretty spectacularly and ends up getting Malcolm in hot water with the media. |
| 604 | * TheNapoleon: |
| 605 | ** Cal Richards. |
| 606 | ** Jamie is accused of being "a pint-pot Judas" by Malcolm. Jamie retorts with the wholly unconvincing claim that he is [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne actually five-foot-ten]]. |
| 607 | * NecessarilyEvil: Malcolm occasionally reminds people that he's working to ensure the Party stays in power, and that the alternative to following his orders would be the Opposition getting in. He tends to do this when he's particularly exasperated, and even then his efforts are usually unappreciated. |
| 608 | * NeverHurtAnInnocent: In a non-violent example, Malcolm Tucker states that he never targets "real people", although his actions at one point inadvertently cause [[spoiler:Mr. Tickel to commit suicide]]. |
| 609 | * NeverMyFault: Everyone. All the time. The only exceptions being [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Glenn in season 4]] and Peter Mannion. |
| 610 | * NewEraSpeech: |
| 611 | ** Malcolm delivers a RousingSpeech to his assembled minions as [[spoiler:the general election is called]]. Over at Opposition HQ Cal Richards [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElNlIfwlF-w also delivers a speech]], but his is a tad less rousing, and a lot less articulate: |
| 612 | --->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' Some people, they just fuckin' love to hate. Some people fuckin' walk around the fuckin' Garden of Eden fuckin' moaning about the lack of fuckin' mobile recption! These are the kind of fucks who watched Mandela walk to freedom and said 'Is ''Series/DiagnosisMurder'' not on the other side'?\ |
| 613 | '''Cal Richards:''' It will... be... FUCKED! |
| 614 | ** After [[spoiler: Malcolm's sacking]], Steve Fleming delivers what might be the creepiest NewEraSpeech ''ever'' by comparing everyone present to the [[DudeNotFunny Fritzl children emerging from the cellar]]. |
| 615 | --->'''Steve Fleming:''' Right now, you're all emerging from the cellar...pleased that the beatings have stopped...scared of what the future might hold... |
| 616 | * NewscasterCameo: "Rise of the Nutters" uses spliced StockFootage of Jeremy Paxman and ''Series/{{Newsnight}}'' for Ben Swain's interview, and in series three Richard Bacon guest-stars as himself hosting a debate between department ministers on [[Creator/TheBBC Radio 5 Live]]. |
| 617 | * NiceToTheWaiter: Played with. |
| 618 | ** The [=MPs=] and their aides suck up to more powerful government figures, media types and anyone else they consider useful, while walking all over the junior staff and civil servants who do all their actual work. By contrast Malcolm and Jamie have nothing but contempt for [=MPs=], civil servants, journalists and rival spin doctors, but are polite to cleaners and secretaries. |
| 619 | ** One scene that illustrated Jamie's tendency towards this was a deleted scene from the special "Spinners and Losers", when he helps a cleaning lady out in a heated argument with Ben Swain: |
| 620 | --->'''Malcolm:''' I think things have got a little bit... |
| 621 | --->'''Cleaning Lady:''' I have never had anyone speak to me in my life like this before. |
| 622 | --->'''Malcolm:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Well, how long have you been working here?]] |
| 623 | --->'''Cleaning Lady:''' It's enough to give me a heart attack. I'm going to have to sit down. ''*sits down*'' And I want a glass of wine! I want a glass of red wine! |
| 624 | --->'''Ben Swain:''' What the fuck?! I'm not going to... |
| 625 | --->'''Jamie:''' Get her a fucking glass of wine! |
| 626 | --->'''Cleaning Lady:''' ''*pointing to Ben*'' This man again! This man is going to give me a heart attack! |
| 627 | --->'''Ben Swain:''' God, just shut the ''fuck'' up! |
| 628 | --->'''Malcolm:''' Hey, hey! |
| 629 | --->'''Cleaning Lady:''' I will kill him. |
| 630 | --->'''Jamie:''' Can we get something for you? |
| 631 | --->'''Cleaning Lady:''' I will kill him. You're going to have to call the police; I'm going to kill him. |
| 632 | --->'''Jamie:''' I will kill him. Don't you worry. You don't have to get your hands dirty. I will fucking kill him. |
| 633 | *** Somewhat subverted in the actual episode -- Malcolm is only polite to the cleaning lady in order to stop her going to the press. |
| 634 | ** Unlike Stewart, who, in [=S04E03=], actually goes to the effort of insulting a receptionist who'd only interrupted Stewart's frivolous "Yes-And-Ho" game to deliver an urgent message. |
| 635 | ** More contrast emerges in the very next episode, in which Malcolm is seen chatting amiably with one of the nurses at the hospital--before bursting in on Ollie and returning to his usual domineering routine. |
| 636 | ** In Season 4, Episode 6, Malcolm says that he wouldn't do anything to "real people", those who aren't in politics. [[spoiler:He was lying, of course: he did leak Tickel's medical records and telephone number to the press and, like everybody else, used his death for his own ends.]] Although to Malcolm's mind [[spoiler: Tickel]] lost his "real person" immunity by campaigning against the government. |
| 637 | *** This wasn't quite a lie when it came to Tickel, though. Malcolm, remember, was in Opposition at the time Tickel was protesting the Government's policies. Therefore their interests were aligned. Malcolm's target in [[spoiler: leaking Tickel's medical records]] WAS the government, not Tickel... Malcolm wanted to make the Government look bad, and the leak showed that they had been "picking on a man with a history of depression." |
| 638 | * TheNicknamer: Malcolm has insulting nicknames for everyone, but makes a particular point of not using Ollie's real name. "Stem Cell", "[=Joe 90=]", "Twatweasel"... but rarely "Ollie". |
| 639 | ** Malcolm is the most habitual [[TheNicknamer nicknamer]], but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJMNHu9YM-4 most of the characters are nicknamers to some extent]]. |
| 640 | ** Nicola got stuck with being called "Glummy Mummy" by Malcolm in Series 3. |
| 641 | ** Phil with his outdated 80's hairstyle and shitty personality is the brunt of a lot of nicknames, with varied negative comparisons to James May, Hugh Grant, Rupert Brooke and Captain Mark Phillips from almost everybody. |
| 642 | * NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Many of the characters are thinly-veiled references to RealLife political figures: |
| 643 | ** Stewart Pearson appears to be a caricature of [[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/is-there-a-campaign-to-discredit-camerons-favourite-moderniser-1862399.html Steve Hilton]], an advertising exec-turned [[UsefulNotes/BritishPoliticalSystem Tory]] spin doctor and a serial abuser of [[IceCreamKoan meaningless PR buzzwords]]. |
| 644 | ** His colleague Cal "The Fucker" Richards may have been based on Tory Director of Communications [[http://www.torybear.com/2009/12/who-could-they-mean.html Andy Coulson]], a former ''[[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers News of the World]]'' editor known for his aggressive style and allegations of bullying behaviour. |
| 645 | ** Julius Nicholson (now Lord Nicholson) bears similarities to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Mandelson Peter Mandelson]] (now Lord Mandelson) and also to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birt John Birt]], the "Blue Skies Thinker" to Tony Blair whose meaningless utterances were ridiculed as "Birtspeak". |
| 646 | ** Steve Fleming's personality and mannerisms are thought to have been based on Mandelson's to an even greater degree. |
| 647 | ** Malcolm Tucker is based on a number of New Labour spin doctors. Creator/AlastairCampbell is the one most often cited, but he is also partly based on UsefulNotes/PeterMandelson and possibly on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damian_McBride Damian "Mad Dog" McBride]]. The last of these has led to some amusing LifeImitatesArt moments: in one episode it emerges that the Opposition's nickname for Malcolm is [[Series/HamishMacbeth Hamish MacDeath]]: the Conservatives gave [=McBride=] the nickname "[=McPoison=]". [=McBride=] was also forced to resign after his plans to set up a blog slandering UsefulNotes/DavidCameron were leaked, some time after the show featured Malcolm Tucker getting into trouble for posting slanderous comments on Peter Mannion's blog. |
| 648 | ** Even from the little we hear of them, we can gather that the two [[InvisiblePresident invisible party leaders]] of series 1- 3 resemble their RealLife counterparts. |
| 649 | ** Dan Miller is pretty clearly based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Miliband David Miliband]] |
| 650 | ** Baroness Sureka seems to have been inspired by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Scotland,_Baroness_Scotland_of_Asthal Baroness Scotland]] |
| 651 | * NoPartyGiven: We have the government and the opposition. Neither is ever identified by name or policy as being Labour or Conservative. But, well, you'd have to be an idiot to not realise the main characters are Labour and the Opposition are Tories. The fourth series also introduces the other party in the coalition, who are pretty obviously based on the Liberal Democrats but never identified as such. Also as described above, the characters mostly have real-life counterparts which correspond with the parties they represent in the show. |
| 652 | ** The first explicit hints start emerging during the specials, as Ollie's Opposition girlfriend is referred to as a right-winger and Peter praises the '80s for being a time when his party was in power. |
| 653 | ** If not before then, in Season 4's Coalition government is clearly Conservative/Lib Dem, not just because that's what's happening IRL but because of the sorts of blunders the parties make- Nicola is naive and idealistic, wants to ban toys and spends far too much time worrying about sounding prejudiced in any way, which was just what the Labour government seemed to do. Peter Mannion, though altogether trying his best, comes off vaguely prejudiced because he's out of touch, and hates youth, or at least doesn't know how to address them. |
| 654 | --->'''Mannion:''' I'm modern! I say 'black' instead of 'colored', I think women are a good thing, I have no problem with gays, most of them are very well turned out, especially the men. Why is it this last year I'm being made to feel as if I'm always two steps behind, like I can't program a video or convert everything back to old money? Because that's not me!\ |
| 655 | '''Phil:''' You've still got a video? |
| 656 | ** Stewart Pearson also notes how he has worked for ten years to "detoxify" the party by removing racists, homophobes and sexists, a very real concern for a Conservative Party that has been desperately trying to shed its image as a party for casual bigots and only barely succeeding by somewhat ineffectually keeping a lid on its own back bench. Stewart then goes on to say that the whole project was doomed to fail from the start since the whole thing is rotten from the ground up. |
| 657 | ** The fact that Northerner Ollie resents his (ex-)girlfriend Emma's apparent class privilege--even flat-out calling her a "rich bitch" when they break up--and that they deride each other for being stereotypical members of their respective parties makes it pretty clear that he's with Labour, she's Conservative. |
| 658 | ** The series also plays with the various clashing ideologies ''within'' the parties, again without quite naming them; Peter, for example, is very clearly an old-school "One Nation"-style conservative who's forced to co-exist within a party dominated by neo-liberal Thatcherite types. |
| 659 | ** And of course, part of the point of the series is that for all the ideological differences that can be named between the parties, ultimately the problem is that they're all ultimately staffed and run by self-interested, power-hungry and cowardly hypocrites who usually end up prioritising what's best for them over what's best for the country, meaning that for all practical purposes the differences between them don't end up mattering all that much. |
| 660 | * NoSenseOfPersonalSpace: |
| 661 | ** Space invader extraordinaire Malcolm Tucker. Whether it's engaging in conspiratorial conversations in the narrow corridors of power (or the gent's lavatories), using intimidation to get what he wants or simply flirting with his colleagues, the "Thin White Mugabe" gets in close. Cornering seems to be the favoured tactic. |
| 662 | ** A similar example is Jamie, who gets just as close (sometimes manhandling people) and is even more likely to shout obscenities right in your face. |
| 663 | ** A very different example is Malcolm's nemesis Steve Fleming. Like Malcolm, Fleming gets much too close to people and has no aversion to touching them. Unlike Malcolm, Fleming is actually ''trying'' to be friendly, but fails miserably and comes across as a creepy slimy perv (especially with Nicola). |
| 664 | * NoSocialSkills: Olly, himself book-smart but not streetwise, asks hapless press officer John Duggan "I'm not being horrible, but are you actually autistic?" Further along the autism spectrum is unseen Prime Minister Tom Davis, whose social skills are so lacking that the press officers doubt that they should let him out in public. |
| 665 | * NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: The missing immigration figures in [=S03E02=] is not backed up, [[spoiler: apart from a memory stick at the bottom of Ollie's second best bag.]] |
| 666 | * NoThemeTune: The series doesn't have a theme tune...or any music, really. The show flashes a title card on screen and gets on its way. |
| 667 | * NobodyPoops: Averted: a great deal of the political process seems to go on in toilets. |
| 668 | ** Taking a dump is Hugh's special treat. That's what his life has come to. |
| 669 | ** Jamie does this ''a lot'': "It's, eh, smoking and a fast metabolism." |
| 670 | ** Malcolm claims to have done this in TheWhiteHouse. |
| 671 | * NoodleIncident: |
| 672 | ** Emma in the Opposition Special: "They're going to elect a man who can count his friends on the fingers of my father's right hand." |
| 673 | ** Malcolm on Nicola: "She's a nice lady. Especially when she's drunk." Considering this came from the same episode where he joked about her photocopying her arse, one wonders exactly what has been going on in office parties... |
| 674 | ** While visiting Ollie in hospital, Glenn declares it to be the worst lunch hour he's had since the time Stuart took everyone out for sushi. |
| 675 | ** The scandal involving Baroness Sureka is obliquely referred to by Glenn offering his sympathies for her during the enquiry, Robyn recognising her from the papers (much to her embarrassment) and indicated by her absence during one of the inquisitions. |
| 676 | * NotHelpingYourCase: After Peter and his colleagues return from Stewart's thought camp only to be informed that Adam and Fergus have set up a community bank for £2 billion in their absence, Adam tells them not to worry because it will be funded by taxes. |
| 677 | -->'''Peter:''' Great, the triple. I'm a nurse killer, a banker, and now I'm raising ''FUCKING TAXES!'' |
| 678 | * NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering: The Shadow Cabinet meeting of [=S04E02=]. |
| 679 | * NotWorthKilling: Non-fatal variant - when Ollie informs his Malcolm that Glenn is here to see him, Malcolm rounds on Ollie, delivering him a metaphor about how when the Queen's butler sees a cockroach in the kitchen, he steps on it and she never knows. When Malcolm does eventually go and speak to Glenn, he treats him with weary contempt rather than his characteristic foul-mouthed ranting, suggesting he finds him beneath even a bollocking. |
| 680 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: When Malcolm Tucker stops swearing and speaks in a measured, reasonable tone, tremble. When Malcolm Tucker admits that things aren't going so well for him...''run''. |
| 681 | * ObsoleteMentor: "I may be needed. I've been needed in the past." Poor Glenn, no-one's wanted his opinion or advice on anything since Series 2. It's now so long ago that Hugh being deeply interested in his opinion practically counts as EarlyInstalmentWeirdness. |
| 682 | * ObstructiveBureaucrat: Terri, who is a "blockage". |
| 683 | * OfCourseISmoke: |
| 684 | ** Terri has a cigarette with hapless Opposition MP Peter Mannion, in order to flirt with him. (He doesn't notice either the flirting or that she is rather obviously not a smoker.) |
| 685 | ** One quick scene from "The Rise of the Nutters" shows Malcolm Tucker, of all people, having a cough attack over a cigar. The waiter seems amused. |
| 686 | * OfficialCouple: Ollie and Emma. Of course, this being ''The Thick of It'', their relationship is ruthlessly exploited by the other characters as soon as it's acknowledged, to the point where by the end they're quite openly admitting that they would have broken up long before "if it had been up to them". |
| 687 | * OffscreenKarma: At the end of Spinners and Losers, Malcolm hints at a meeting with Tom, where he gleefully gets to pin all of the blame for the episode's drama squarely on Nick Hanway. |
| 688 | -->'''Malcolm Tucker''': I've been summoned to the breakfast meeting to talk to Tom about This Morning. Some details about Clare Ballentine, maybe...Geoff Holhurst...young Benjamin here... |
| 689 | -->'''Nick Hanway''': Fuck you very much, you unscrupulous bastard. |
| 690 | -->'''Malcolm Tucker''': Scruples? Scruples, what are they? Is that those low-fat kettle chips? |
| 691 | * OhCrap: |
| 692 | ** Hugh's look of horror in the very first episode when, on the way to publicly announce a policy that he ''thinks'' he has the Prime Minister's complete approval for (and with the nation's media waiting for him), Malcolm angrily phones him to tell him that "should" does ''not'', in fact, mean "yes". |
| 693 | ** [[EyeTake The look in Malcolm's eyes]] after Steve Fleming asks him "Can I have a quick word? Just five minutes..." |
| 694 | ** And again in 4.06 when the Goolding Inquiry reveals that [[spoiler: Malcolm had a file with Mr. Tickel's phone number, NHS details and the unlisted number of his ex-wife, which was then leaked to the media]] in the photo that headlined the 'Quiet Batpeople' fiasco. [[spoiler: It's the first time ''ever'' in the series that Malcolm is completely at a loss for words.]] |
| 695 | * OlderThanTheyLook: |
| 696 | ** Ollie is described as looking "about nine" in a newspaper photo by his girlfriend Emma Messinger, and Malcolm constantly makes jokes about his youthful appearance. Chris Addison, the actor who plays Ollie, was actually in his late thirties when filming the series. |
| 697 | ---> '''Malcolm:''' Are you on solids? I thought you were still on the tit. |
| 698 | ** This carried over to one of Chris Addison's appearances on ''Series/HaveIGotNewsForYou'', when Creator/TomBaker referred to him as "the boy": "I'm thirty-six! I'm ''thirty-six,'' Tom Baker!" |
| 699 | ** Same goes for Phil; Will Smith (no, not ''that'' Creator/WillSmith), who plays him, was born the same year as Chris Addison. |
| 700 | * OnceDoneNeverForgotten: Paula Radcliffe's unfortunate case of runner's diarrhoea is this. |
| 701 | -->'''Terri:''' That is very unfair, it only happened once. |
| 702 | -->'''Ollie:''' Once is all you need! Imagine if Creator/BruceForsyth, beginning of ''Series/StrictlyComeDancing'', ''[grunts]'' "There we go!" You'd never hear the end of that! |
| 703 | * OnlyOneName: Jamie. |
| 704 | ** Although he was given a surname - [=MacDonald=] - for ''Film/InTheLoop''. |
| 705 | ** Julius calls him "James" in ''Rise of the Nutters'', so apparently Jamie is his nickname. |
| 706 | ** Another example is Malcolm's PA, Sam. Her surname is given as "Cassidy" in ''The Missing [=DoSAC=] Files'', but it's debatable how far this is canon. (The same book gives Terri a different middle name than the one stated in the show, for example.) |
| 707 | * OnlySaneMan: Peter Mannion is the Opposition's. The Government doesn't seem to have one; Glen would be the likeliest candidate, but it's far from clear-cut in his case. |
| 708 | * OpenMouthInsertFoot: In the last episode of season two, Hugh, while watching Malcolm bollocking someone, ponders whether it's worse to have him "slowly rumble towards you like prostate cancer, or him appearing suddenly out of nowhere like a severe stroke". Terri, who's father has just died of a stroke turns to him, prompting Hugh to pitifully ask how her father is. |
| 709 | * OppositesAttract: Although in this case, it's more "Opposites Go Out To Dig Dirt On Each Other's Parties And Nick Policy Ideas." |
| 710 | * OurPresidentsAreDifferent: The series has two invisible [=PMs=], at least one of whom is also Unmodified (Tom Davis is pretty obviously UsefulNotes/GordonBrown). The other one went almost totally unmentioned, but given the circumstances, is also more or less Unmodified (for UsefulNotes/TonyBlair). |
| 711 | ** There was yet another invisible PM in series 4 (which it took place after a general election and change of government) - probably a more or less Unmodified version of UsefulNotes/DavidCameron. |
| 712 | * OverusedRunningGag: Defied. The reason "Tucker's Law" was cut is because the writers feared the temptation to turn it into one of these. |
| 713 | * PaintingTheMedium: The Goolding Inquiry is entirely shot at a faster frame rate than the rest of the series, similar to a televised news report. |
| 714 | * PassingNotesInClass: In a meeting where Malcolm can't express his displeasure in the usual profane manner, he resorts to this. |
| 715 | -->'''Malcolm's note:''' PLEASE COULD YOU TAKE THIS NOTE, RAM IT UP HIS HAIRY INBOX, AND PIN IT TO HIS FUCKING PROSTATE. |
| 716 | * {{Paparazzi}}: A significant antagonizing force. For instance, one manages to get a photo of a sheet on which the Opposition were brainstorming policy names, resulting in the dreadful end product of a WikiWalk ("quiet Bat-people") being broadcasted out of context across all of the papers. Another one corners Nicola attempting to get a shot of her next to a protester in a pork chop costume. Another one gets a shot of Stuart and Peter standing on children's play equipment at a party conference, attempting to get signals on their phones, but instead looking like they're playing like kids on the day a significant disaster happened. These all happen in one season. |
| 717 | * PerfectlyCromulentWord: In addition to the usual stream of creative insult combinations, the single word "omnishambles", which has since been used repeatedly in RealLife. |
| 718 | * PetTheDog: |
| 719 | ** Malcolm proudly claims during the enquiry that he never attacks "civilians" i.e ordinary people who are outside the political sphere. Even Jamie seems to abide by Malcolm's code, as he is instantly polite and apologetic to a cleaner that he bumps into, seconds after chewing out [=DoSAC=]. |
| 720 | ** Malcolm's relationship with Sam, his PA, is genuinely heartwarming; she's one of the only people he treats with true respect and camaraderie. [[spoiler:After he gets (temporarily) sacked, she bursts into tears and Malcolm immediately goes to her defence even though she was forced to hang up on him earlier.]] In the book they sign emails to each other as M x and S x. |
| 721 | ** There's a nice one at the end of "Spinners and Losers", after Glenn has a dramatic nervous breakdown over his uselessness and obsolescence. Malcolm invites Glenn to come interrogate Dan Miller with him, despite not really needing him. Ollie and Terri encourage him too, and Robyn offers Glenn a chocolate bar for blood sugar. Such scenes become almost non-existent as the series progresses. |
| 722 | ** Ollie very warmly tells Glenn that he feels proud of him when the latter tells Ollie he plans on standing for Parliament. The moment is one of total sincerity, notwithstanding that Ollie’s quick to mock when the plan falls through due Glenn’s association with Nicola. |
| 723 | -->'''Malcolm Tucker''': Come on, I need you there. I need a man, and you're a man! Come on. |
| 724 | -->'''Ollie Reeder''': He's coming with us. He's a human being, remember? Not the irrelephant man! |
| 725 | * ThePeterPrinciple: Endemic, but Nicola's elevation to Party Leader may be the standout case. Poor Nicola. |
| 726 | * ThePlan: The way Malcolm ruthlessly takes his job back is definitely one. |
| 727 | * PopCulturalOsmosisFailure: |
| 728 | ** To show how out of touch Hugh is, Malcolm asks him [[Series/LittleBritain who the only gay in the village is]]. Hugh replies, [[Radio/TheArchers Eddie Grundy]]. He even gets the ''Series/EastEnders'' theme wrong. He doesn't even know what a [[LowerClassLout chav]] is, a fairly basic bit of British slang. |
| 729 | ** Nicola somehow manages to confuse Jeremy Paxman with Creator/JeremyClarkson. |
| 730 | ** Malcolm makes several pop-culture references, yet somehow ''Franchise/StarWars'' eluded him. In a moment of stress, he attributes "It's the End of the World as We Know It" to Music/TheBangles, prompting Ollie to meekly correct him that it was Music/{{REM}}. |
| 731 | ** A deleted scene from the final episode reveals that Peter has no idea who Series/WillAndGrace are. |
| 732 | * PortmanteauCoupleName: In-universe example: Robyn is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnM1mMACvUs rather distressed]] by the existence of the term "Glebyn." |
| 733 | * PowerIsSexy: Parodied in-universe when Ollie and his then-girlfriend have some flirty banter about how he's gotten promoted and how the additional power makes him attractive. However, since Ollie is neither particularly powerful nor attractive, and both of them are fully aware of that, they are both clearly just joking. It's actually one of the few times where a genuinely light-hearted joke is made that both sides find funny, in comparison to the cock-ups and humiliations that are the usual source of humour. |
| 734 | * PrecisionFStrike: |
| 735 | ** Played straight with Julius Nicholson. An infuriatingly polite, formal and chipper man who often self-censors himself (e.g. once demanding that Malcolm tell him "what the F-word is going on"), he has to be pushed ''very'' far before he'll swear. His first F-Strike occurs during the Prime Minister's sudden, unannounced resignation and it comes across as unusually harsh and bitter: |
| 736 | -->'''Julius Nicholson:''' I can't believe he didn't tell me the ''fucking'' date! That is fucking rude, isn't it? |
| 737 | ** Stewart Pearson is another example, avoiding swearing in order to preserve his touchy-feely GranolaGirl image. His profanity in the wake of Tickel's death presses home just how screwed his department is. |
| 738 | ** Inverted with Malcolm Tucker. Given he practically speaks ClusterFBomb as a second language, it's when he STOPS swearing that [[TranquilFury we know a line has been crossed.]] |
| 739 | * PrematurelyGreyHaired: Malcolm suffered a mental breakdown at the end of the third series. He returns for the fourth one back together, but with a head of steel grey hair. This happened naturally to Capaldi over time, but serendipitously evoked this trope. |
| 740 | * PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy: Oxbridge-educated posh boy Olly sometimes tries to put on a humourous Jafakean accent. The effect is ludicrous: |
| 741 | -->"Ah'm from Lincolnshire, wiv all da windmills and da potatoes and da shit..." |
| 742 | * TheProblemWithPenIsland: Nicola falls victim to a variation when out campaigning for by-election candidate Liam Bentley: when standing in the middle of his poster on TV, the stray letters appeared to spell "I AM BENT". |
| 743 | * ProfessionalButtKisser: Opposition MP Peter Mannion's top aide Phil Smith: "You're such a ''bumlicker'', Phil!" |
| 744 | * ProudToBeAGeek: Phil Smith. |
| 745 | -->'''Ollie Reeder:''' This inability to talk without using ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' metaphors is one of the very many reasons we could never be friends. |
| 746 | * PsychoForHire: Jamie [=McDonald=], Malcolm Tucker's lackey and attack dog whom Malcolm uses as much by reputation as by actual force. More than once he has convinced someone to get motivated by threatening to call Jamie over. |
| 747 | * PsychoticSmirk: Malcolm gets in quite a few, with several in the final episode of Series 3. |
| 748 | * PutOnABus: Hugh Abbott goes on holiday to Australia off-screen in between series 2 and the specials. He spends a lot of time on the other end of the phone to Glenn in the specials, but ultimately never returns. |
| 749 | ** Terri removing Hugh's nameplate from his office door in the first episode of series 3 may constitute a BusCrash. "Hugh's out!" early in the episode is the most that is ever spoken of it. |
| 750 | * RageBreakingPoint: Almost exclusively Malcolm Tucker, though we see lesser examples from Glenn and Stewart. |
| 751 | ** During their first day together, Malcolm has been getting progressively more aggravated with Nicola Murray's general incompetence, but most of his rants have sailed ''just'' below the "UnstoppableRage" line. Then, Nicola declines to enter a lift with him on the grounds of claustrophobia, and he finally lets loose. |
| 752 | -->Well, that's great. That's fucking great, that's ''another'' fucking thing ''right there'': not only have you got a fucking bent husband and a fucking daughter that gets taken to school on a fucking sedan chair, you're also fucking ''MENTAL!'' Jesus Christ, see you, you're the fucking ''omnishambles,'' that's what you are! You're like that coffee machine, you know- "From Bean To Cup, You Fuck Up!" |
| 753 | ** In Nicola's second episode, Malcolm lets her have it again after a very trying day ends with Nicola accidentally blabbing the details of the latest [=DoSAC=] scandal to an on-the-record journalist. For good measure, it was because of Nicola's claustrophobia. His rage is a sight to behold, especially since he's sat in a car with the subject of his ire mere inches away. Terri and Nicola look like they're trapped in a box with a rabid tiger. |
| 754 | --->FUCK'S SAKE! JESUS... ''Christ!'' Well now we've got another...fucking...adjective to add to fuckin' smug and glum, haven't we? Fuckin' ''RETARDED!'' Jesus! Do you ever think it would be germane to check who you're talking to? It's a fuckin ''newspaper office!'' Not a fuckin' sanatorium for the fuckin' DEAF! Are you so dense? Am I gonna have to run around, slappin' badges on people with a big tick on some and a big cross on others so you know when to shut your gob and when to open it? Jesus Christ... oh but that'd probably confuse you as well, wouldn't it, that'd be to confusin'- you see the cross and go "Oh fuck, X marks the spot! Better tell this person all about the Prime Minister's fuckin' catastrophic erectile dysfunction!" Oh but not to worry, not to worry, you've sent fuckin' Olly over there to deal with it! [[{{Angrish}} FUCKIN' OLLY! HE'S A FUCKIN'- HE'S A FUCKIN' KNITTED SCARF, THAT TWAT, HE'S A FUCKIN' BALACLAVA!]] |
| 755 | ** And ''again'' in the fifth episode: during the escalting BBC radio fiasco, Malcolm has been trying to deal with the issue with his usual level of sanity- even enjoying a brief moment of triumph when it's revealed that the Opposition has been recieving donations from a sweatshop... only for the whole thing to come crashing down thanks to Stewart Pearson, the radio producers, and a text from "Tim in Ruislip" informing the listeners that his own party recieves donations from the sweatshop too. |
| 756 | --->'''Malcolm:''' (deathly calm) That's your fucking career over, right? Okay, you're fucking ''dead.'' And those three little words, "Tim in Ruislip", are the fucking nails in your coffin, dear. (Mimes hammering) Tim. In. Ruislip. Tim in fuckin' Ruislip. And as for Tim in fucking... FUCKING fucking fucking Ruislip - he's fucking dead as well, that fucking texting coward! Give me his number. What's his fucking number? Give me the fucking number of Tim in Ruislip! If you don't give me his fucking number, do you know what I'm gonna have to do? I'm gonna have to fucking ''go to'' fucking Ruislip and fucking snap the thumb and forefinger off of ''every single person I see'' who I think resembles the kind of wanker that would be walking around in this day and fucking age with a name like fucking Tim! How do you think that sounds, huh?\ |
| 757 | '''Stewart:''' Quite, quite mad. |
| 758 | ** Others get in on this too to a lesser degree. Stewart and Glenn in particular both reach their point after [[spoiler:Tickel's suicide]]; Glenn because of the lack of respect his colleagues are showing for [[spoiler:a man's death]], Stewart because of the colossal amount of pressure placed on him in so short a time. |
| 759 | * RealLifeWritesThePlot: |
| 760 | ** Hugh Abbot left the department because his actor Chris Langham went to prison. |
| 761 | ** Nicola Murray is claustrophobic and gets nauseous at the thought of using a lift, which leaves her colleagues perturbed and slightly amused. Actor Creator/RebeccaFront is a RealLife claustrophobe. |
| 762 | * RealMenCook: Malcolm can cook ghee. Ollie can't manage lamb shanks. Make of this what you will... |
| 763 | * RealMenWearPink: At work Malcolm seems assured enough of his own sexuality to be [[GayBravado entirely comfortable flirting with men]], while the scenes in Malcolm's house show him to have pride in his cooking skills and an eye for interior design. He also got rather alarmed at the thought of journalists damaging his hedge. However he gains the most pink points for coming out with the wonderfully fey "DON'T TOUCH THAT SCARF, THAT'S PAUL SMITH!". ''During a fight''. He is also played by a RealLife [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD7Dz_1u2Jo Real Man Who Wears Pink]]. |
| 764 | * RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic: The series emphasises that it isn't ''Series/TheWestWing'' with all the stumbling, repetition, hesitation, waffling, dragging out speech, people talking over and interrupting each other mentioned in the description. Some of the more driven and/or sociopathic characters such as Malcolm Tucker avert it to some degree, though. |
| 765 | * RealityIsUnrealistic: WordOfGod claims that Whitehall insiders say there's not enough swearing to be realistic. |
| 766 | * TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: |
| 767 | ** Nicola Murray's first day starts going downhill when she finds herself on the receiving end of one of these speeches from Malcolm Tucker -- specifically, when he learns that [[{{Hypocrite}} she's supporting the improvement of state schools while sending her daughter to a private school]]. |
| 768 | -->'''Malcolm:''' Jesus H Fucking ''Corbett.'' Do you honestly think -- do you honestly believe that, as a minister, you can get away with that? You are saying that all your local state schools, ''all'' the schools that this government has drastically improved are knife-addled ''[[WretchedHive rapesheds]]'' and that's not a big story? For fuck's sake! Sort it, or abort it.\ |
| 769 | '''Nicola:''' Let's get this clear: my family is off limits! All right? [[TemptingFate This job is not gonna get anywhere near my husband or my kids]] -- it just doesn't --\ |
| 770 | '''Malcolm:''' Of course it fucking does; as per the wee barcode and the serial number under your right armpit, you are now built and owned by the state, and you are under the spotlight twenty-four hours a day, darling. You know what you are? You're a fucking human dartboard, and Eric fucking Bristow's on the oche, flingin' a million darts made of human shit right at you: can you take that? CAN YOU?\ |
| 771 | '''Nicola:''' Okay, look, you -- the all-swearing eye -- you didn't even know how many kids I had, you had to ask me! So who on earth in the press is going to even know or care?\ |
| 772 | '''Malcolm:''' Do you remember ''The Big Breakfast?'' Do you remember that programme? You remember how Chris Evans started that, you know how that was a big success? And then they had that guy, Johnny Vaughan, you remember him? Everybody loved him -- fuck knows why, but they loved him. Do you know what this is, here? ''This'' here is series ten of ''The Big Breakfast'', and you're the fucking dinner lady that they have asked to come and present the show. The reason I didn't know about you and your children is 'cause you were so low down on the list of candidates for this job, I didn't even have the chance to look into you. ({{Beat}}) So low. Waaaaaaaaaay way way way way way way way... low. ''You'' are now being scrutinized for what you wear and what you say: for your hair, your shoes, your fucking earrings, your fucking cleavage, and your dress -- which, by the way, is ''way'' too loud.\ |
| 773 | '''Nicola:''' Too loud?\ |
| 774 | '''Malcolm:''' Yeah, I'm getting fuckin' tinnitus, here. ({{Beat}}) Look, your crooked husband I can make go away... but your crooked husband, ''combined'' with you being worried about your underaged daughter coming home ''up the duff'' from some truanting bastard, I cannot. She goes to the comp. |
| 775 | ** An episode later, Nicola fucks up: her department has lost seven months worth of files, nobody has any idea where the backup went, Nicola has succeeded in making herself look like a SoapBoxSadie GranolaGirl in a conference with the press, and ultimately ended up revealing the scandal about the lost files to an on-the-record journalist. And naturally, Malcolm lets her have it: |
| 776 | --->'''Malcolm:''' I just wanted to say to you, by way of introductory remarks, that I'm ''extremely'' miffed about today's events, and in my quest to try to make you understand the level of my unhappiness, I'm likely to use an awful lot of what we would call violent sexual imagery, and I just wanted to check that neither of you would be terribly offended by that.\ |
| 777 | '''Nicola:''' I could actually do without the theatrics, I think, Malcolm --\ |
| 778 | '''Malcolm:''' ''Enough.'' E-fucking-nough. You need to learn to shut your fucking cave. Right? Today, you have laid your first big fat egg of solid fuck. You took the data loss media strategy, and you ate it with a lump of E coli, and then you sprayed it out of your arse at three hundred miles per hour.\ |
| 779 | '''Nicola:''' I simply made a mistake --\ |
| 780 | '''Malcolm:''' You got "on the record" and "off the record" fuckin' mixed up! What would have happened if, like, George Martin had done that? We'd have no fucking [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]], that's what. Now, I don't give a fuck about that, I've had to fuckin' sit next to Music/PaulMcCartney at fuckin' Checkers.\ |
| 781 | '''Nicola:''' The data loss wasn't my fault.\ |
| 782 | '''Malcolm:''' Fine, yeah, but I tell you what, it came out fuckin' pretty fast once you were in there, didn't it? Which makes me wonder, should I just go and talk to the boss? Should I go and tell him "I don't think she's up to the job"?\ |
| 783 | '''Nicola:''' You said yourself that if the PM sacks me after a week, it looks like ''he's'' fucked up!\ |
| 784 | '''Malcolm:''' Yeah, but that was ''before,'' when your biggest problem was a fucking shit pun in a newspaper and a face like Dot Cotton lickin' piss off a nettle!\ |
| 785 | '''Nicola:''' Okay, I messed up! Right? I messed up! But I will, from now on, listen to every bit of advice you give me: I'll go on Question Time wearing a push-up bra and a fez, I'll do the Hustings on stilts if that is what you tell me the strategy is, because you know about that stuff, Malcolm, I know that. It's just I've got things I want to do, alright.\ |
| 786 | '''Malcolm:''' 'Course you do, mate. Montessori fuckin' Rockinghorses or something. ''The Mail'' have the motherload on this, so that means that there is a way through this for us, but it entails ''you'', M'dear, [[BreakTheHaughty eating a complete concrete mixer full of humble pie.]] |
| 787 | ** In a later episode, one of the more seriously dramatic ones, someone who is totally unconnected to politics (and is indeed very sympathetic and admirable) has just had his career ruined thanks to Nicola. Notably, [[EvenEvilHasStandards even Malcolm feels bad about this]], and is trying (not particularly successfully) to be genuinely gentle and nice about it. While Nicola's trying not to break down with guilt, Malcolm tells her that this PR clusterfuck is a war with the Opposition, so she's going to have to fight. She responds with a short, but very accurate, rant about how all this trouble (plus virtually every other thing that's gone wrong in the series,) is the result of people like Malcolm being obsessed with fighting and power, and that this attitude is the reason people despise politics so much. Unfortunately, Malcolm isn't even vaguely impressed; after telling her to [[ShutUpKirk "Spare me your psycho-fanny"]] and telling her a series of lies about how the opposition are mocking her misfortune, [[DealWithTheDevil he makes her an offer that makes her fling her priciples to the wind and turn the aforementioned PR clusterfuck into a war with the opposition]]. |
| 788 | ** In Series 4, Nicola has ended up becoming Leader of the Opposition between seasons. However, when it turns out that she's about the weakest possible leader the party could have been saddled with, Malcolm orchestrates a scheme to force her out of the job. And as a final insult to injury, when Nicola tries to suck up to the new Opposition Leader, Malcom delivers one last magnificent speech explaining just how little standing she has. |
| 789 | --->'''Malcolm:''' You are not a grandee, you are a fucking "blandee". No-one knew what the fuck you stood for. Political fucking mist! No substance, no weight. You've got all the charm of a rotting teddy bear by a graveside. And by the way, women fucking hate you! I can show you the polling: they think you come across as a jittery mother at a wedding. The best thing you ever did in your flat-lining non-leadership was call for an inquiry, because it will fuck the government and it will fuck ''you.'' Now, please, just fuck off back to your home, you headless frump, and prepare for your column in ''Grazia''.\ |
| 790 | '''Nicola:''' Okay... you... well... you just need to know that you have absolutely... fucking done it now, Malcolm, because you are about to find out what it feels like to have me pissing into your tent!\ |
| 791 | '''Malcolm:''' Well, you know what? Your piss will never fuckin' make it into my tent, because by some unforseen Nicola Murray-shaped fiasco -- like every fuckin' Nicola-Murray-shaped fiasco I've had to deal with ''for the last two years'' -- you'll end up blowing your own fuckin' stream into your own fuckin' face! There's your golden handshake! |
| 792 | ** Glenn's quitting scene in the final episode comes complete with an ''epic'' one that calls out everyone in the DoSAC department: |
| 793 | --->'''Glenn Cullen:''' Come on out everyone! Tally-ho! COME ON, BRING OUT YOUR FUCKING DEAD! Right, everybody listen, I've got an announcement to make! ''[...]'' Morally, this department is in the gutter! ''[...]'' You, Fergus, when you asked me to join you, all you had was your principles, but over the last two years, you've bent like a human fucking palm tree, swaying to the guff of these six-toed, born-to-rule, pony-fuckers! ''[...]'' Oh! Adam, you're waiting for your turn! Oh no! I remember, it's your turn right now! You are simply the most loathsome human being I have ever met! You were so well suited at The Mail, it's a shame you came over here! Do you know what, I hate you both! Tweedle-twat and Tweedle-prick! You contribute absolutely nothing to the world so THANK FUCKING GOD YOU HAVE NO POWER! ''[...]'' And Peter, it's been dreadful. I hope your cock falls off. Phil, do you know what you are? You're like an eight-year-old trapped in a twelve-year-old's body! ''[...]'' And Emma -- Emma, I'm sorry, you're just a standard issue, insipid posh bitch. That's it! Terri? I don't think I've ever met someone so proud and yet quite so useless. But I do have to thank you, because I have managed to stay in shape, purely though the energy I spend in pitying you every day! Fuck you all up the wrong 'un! Ta-ta! Bye-bye! |
| 794 | * RefugeInAudacity: During an inquiry into politicians illegally leaking information to the media, Malcolm is called as a witness and uses the opportunity to blatantly leak information to the investigators and the press to score political points. |
| 795 | * ResignedInDisgrace: |
| 796 | ** The show begins with Cliff Lawton being forced to resign as Secretary of State for Social Affairs, having become the subject of an embarrassing screw-up; with the government not wanting to look weak in the face of media scrutiny, Malcolm Tucker arranges for Lawton to make it look as if he jumped instead of being pushed - arranging his farewell and letter of resignation twenty minutes before even telling Lawton. |
| 797 | ** During the first season, Hugh Abbott becomes embroiled in a scandal when his clumsy attempts to sell his second home end up making him look prejudiced against Asian buyers, and it's not long before Malcolm floats the idea of having him resign to spare the government further trouble. Hugh refuses at first, only to realize that doing so would actually improve his reputation; by the time he gets around to trying, he finds that Dan Miller has already beaten him to it and gained a ton of brownie points as a result. |
| 798 | ** In the final episodes of season three, Malcolm ends up in conflict with Steve Fleming, a chief whip out for revenge after becoming a victim of this trope. During a scandal over botched crime statistics, Fleming is able to use Malcolm as a scapegoat for the crisis and force him to resign -- even recycling his own tactic of leaking the resignation to the media before telling him about it. However... |
| 799 | ** ...in the season finale, Julius Nicholson reinstates Malcolm as Director of Communications in order to prevent Dan Miller's attempted takeover, promising to pardon him and Fleming of all wrongdoing in his official report...only for Malcolm to spread a rumour that the report is going to pin the blame entirely on Fleming, eventually prompting the ex-whip to confront Nicholson - not realizing that a journalist has been tipped off about their meeting and is photographing everything - making it look as if Fleming was trying to influence the report. Consequently, Fleming is scapegoated for the entire incident and forced to resign. |
| 800 | ** As part of a scheme to replace Nicola Murray with a more competent Opposition Leader who can get the party back into power, Malcolm exploits the recent suicide of homeless nurse Douglas Tickel to shake things up: first, he baits the predictably overambitious Ben Swain into resigning in an effort to undermine Nicola's leadership; then he encourages her to call for an enquiry into Tickel's death so Swain's resignation will be overlooked by the media; finally, he has Glenn Cullen leak an email in which both Ben and Nicola voiced support for the housing act that resulted in Tickel becoming homeless in the first place. As a result, the inquiry is set to screw over the government and give the Opposition a chance to take over, Ben is left resigning in disgrace instead of in protest, and Nicola has no choice but to bow out with her career prospects in tatters. |
| 801 | ** Having also supported the housing act, Peter Mannion attempts to take the dignified exit and resign before the media crucifies him. However, Emma and Phil talk him out of it, encouraging him to instead expand the scope of the inquiry to screw over the Opposition. Instead, they end up becoming the victim of another scandal when all the nasty things their department said about Mr Tickel are leaked to the media. As a result, Peter has to sit down his two advisors and demand to know why they shouldn't resign in disgrace. |
| 802 | * RhetoricalQuestionBlunder: During the Golding Inquiry, Glenn is asked if any of his colleagues have lied in the process. He replies, "Does a cow drink milk?" He gets the question thrown back at him, to which he replies, "Probably". |
| 803 | * RichBitch: Emma Messinger. In fact, when Glenn Cullen decides to resign and delivers his extremely bitter TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to the entire department, he specifically singles Emma out as a "standard-issue insipid posh bitch." |
| 804 | * RightHandVsLeftHand: The series features endless disasters that could have been avoided if the various participants were willing to co-ordinate properly, (though admittedly things progress/degenerate so fast in their world that they often simply don't have time for anything but off-the-cuff responses,) but Season 4 has more than the previous ones because half of its time is spent with the coalition government. This latter case is made even worse than usual cases of this trope by the fact that the two ministers hate each other, follow violently opposing party principles, are constantly trying to score political points for their own party (usually at the expense of the other,) and the person who is meant to be liaising between them is a particularly unhelpful ObstructiveBureaucrat. |
| 805 | * RippedFromTheHeadlines: Regularly inverted. The series has become infamous for predicting real life political policies and gaffes. However, played straight in Series 4 with the Goolding Inquiry, which is largely based off of the recent Leveson Inquiry which came as a result of the Phone Hacking Scandal. |
| 806 | * RousingSpeech: |
| 807 | ** Jamie gives this one to Cliff Lawton: |
| 808 | --->'''Jamie [=McDonald=]:''' You are not a [[DecoyProtagonist stalking horse!]] [[BlatantLies You are the real thing!]] And we are going to RAM you up Tom's arse so hard that he has to shit out of his lying mouth!\ |
| 809 | '''[[ButtMonkey Cliff Lawton:]]''' ''({{beat}})'' It's not a very nice image really, but, um, [[BlatantLies very motivating.]] |
| 810 | *** In the same episode, it's a source of some frustration to Jamie that Cliff's own attempts at such a speech to announce that HesBack and standing for the leadership of the party just end up becoming endless moaning and whining about how Malcolm Tucker fired him from [=DoSAC=]. |
| 811 | ** Malcolm and The Fucker both deliver Patton-style pep talk speeches to their underlings at the climax of season three. Malcolm's is met with rousing applause and celebration, while The Fucker's ends in silence and gloom. Compare them yourself: |
| 812 | --->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' I know what people say to you right. They say: "We hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. Everybody hates you." So fucking what? Some people, they just fucking love to hate. Some people, they'd fucking walk around the fucking Garden of Eden, fucking moaning about the lack of fucking mobile reception! These are the kind of fucks who watched ''Mandela'', fucking ''Nelson Mandela'', walk to freedom... and said "is ''Series/DiagnosisMurder'' not on the other side?" So we fucking forget about them. JB, Cal Richards, and their hordes of fucking robots - they're coming over the hill. And all you have to do now is bend down, pick up any fucking weapon--AND TWAT THE FUCKERY OUT OF THEM! LET'S GET OUT THERE, AND LET'S FUCKING KILL THEM! LET'S SET FIRE TO TEARS! LET'S GO!\ |
| 813 | '''Cal "The Fucker" Richards:''' This government's run this country into the ground--this used to be a green, and pleasant land, now... it's the colour of the fucking BBC weather map. It looks like anaemic dogshit. This government is maimed, but it can't be shamed--[[PunctuatedForEmphasis IT. WILL. BE. FUCKED!]] Okay, let's get going...what do I call for an outside line? Is it nine, because that's what it is everywhere else? |
| 814 | * SadClown: Malcolm started simply as highly-strung and terrifyingly funny, but his characterization eventually developed into this as the series progressed. It soon becomes apparent that jokes come out of him constantly in all situations, he doesn't care whether or not they make people laugh, and it's entirely a cover for a yawning pit of stress and existential horror. |
| 815 | * SadistShow: The show focuses on {{dirty coward}}s and a near VillainProtagonist. The characters who aren't self-serving and malicious are hideously incompetent, and they all inhabit [[UsefulNotes/{{Whitehall}} a realm where idealism goes to die]]. Oh, and it's about politics. But we repeat ourselves. |
| 816 | * {{Scandalgate}}: Flatgate, despite Terri pointing out that Film/NottingHill-Gate would be a lot cleverer. |
| 817 | * SelfPlagiarism: The line "You bought a bank out of social embarrassment?" is similar to a line in ''Series/PeepShow'' (also written by Jesse Armstrong and Simon Blackwell) - "So you're going to get married to her, out of social embarrassment?" |
| 818 | * SerialEscalation: How much darker can satire get? How much harder can Malcolm's veins throb? How much more baroque can the swearing get? How much more shit can we pile on every single character? |
| 819 | * SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: |
| 820 | ** Posh and over-polite Julius Nicholson: |
| 821 | -->'''Julius Nicholson''': Well, I will speak to whomsoever I need to speak to, holiday or no holiday. |
| 822 | -->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' Where do you learn to speak like that? Is there a special school that only you and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Sewell Brian Sewell]] go to? |
| 823 | ** Stewart Pearson is a political media strategist, who seems to have absolutely no communication skills, and whose speech consists entirely of buzzwords and nonsense. In the penultimate episode, it's revealed that he isn't doing this on purpose; he really thinks he's speaking in plain English, and using simple words and clear phrases requires real physical effort on his part. |
| 824 | * ShaggyDogStory: PlayedForLaughs in "The Rise of the Nutters". The Prime Minister had announced his resignation at the end of the previous episode and an expected successor was being prepared to be nominated in his place...only for rumours that another politician was planning to run for the leadership himself and has apparently gone into hiding, which created a whole tornado of counter-rumours, other possible leadership contenders, and general chaos as the characters try to manoeuvre themselves into positions of power, manipulate events to their personal advantage, or just generally try to figure out what the hell is going on. Finally, at the end of a sleepless night of chaos for all the characters, the politician who's rumoured leadership bid caused all the trouble has finally been tracked down... only to reveal that he privately assured the expected successor that he had his full support and ''isn't'' planning a leadership bid at all, rendering all the flapping about utterly pointless. And to add insult to injury, he'd spent the night asleep in bed at his home, and could have been found there at any time had anyone actually checked. |
| 825 | * ShipSinking: As a political satire, the series isn't exactly famous for exploring personal relationships, yet the tensions between Nicola Murray and Malcolm Tucker in Series 3 led to shipping by many fans. In series 4, however, Nicola Murray goes from a minister to Opposition Leader, where she is awful. The ship-sinking happens when Malcolm's irritation with Nicola messing up (yet still ultimately appreciating her work as a minister) is replaced with utter contempt and hatred for her incompetence dooming the entire party, and culminates in him [[spoiler:orchestrating her political downfall]]. It is VERY clear that the love/hate relationship between the two is now just hate. |
| 826 | * ShipperOnDeck: Ollie tries to do this with Peter Mannion and Terri Coverley. It sucks, hard. |
| 827 | * ShoutOut: |
| 828 | ** During a live radio debate, the studio receives a text from [[Music/TalkingHeads "Tina from Weymouth"]]. |
| 829 | ** A ShoutOut to ''Series/TheWestWing'' acknowledges the two shows' polar opposite depictions of politics: |
| 830 | --->'''Ollie:''' ''(trying to rewrite an entire speech in an hour)'' It's The West Wing!\ |
| 831 | '''Nicola:''' You're not [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Lyman Josh]], Ollie, just write the fucking speech.\ |
| 832 | '''Ollie:''' ''(muttering)'' I fucking am Josh... |
| 833 | ** Their shout-out is off, as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Seaborn Sam]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toby_Ziegler Toby]], not Josh, are ''The West Wing'' speechwriters. |
| 834 | ** In the second episode of series one, Malcolm is testing the apartment's zeitgeist and asks "[[Series/LittleBritain Who's the only gay in the village]]!?" |
| 835 | ---> '''Malcolm Tucker:''' I just keep getting these terrible images flashing in my head, you know, of you being stabbed repeatedly in the face, or of you [[Series/LifeOnMars2006 in a coma, on a life support machine, dreaming of being a gay policeman in the 1970s...]] |
| 836 | ** Malcolm again: [[Series/TheProfessionals "Bodie, Doyle, you go round the back!"]] Malcolm seems to be a fan of shows set in TheSeventies. |
| 837 | ** One of Stewart Pearson's confuses Peter Mannion: |
| 838 | --->'''Stewart Pearson:''' [[Film/OnceUponATimeInMexico Are you an Ameri''can'', or an Ameri''can't'', Peter?]]\ |
| 839 | '''Peter Mannion:''' ...What does that mean? That doesn't mean anything, it's not even a word! |
| 840 | ** The party Fergus belongs to is referred to as ''Series/TheInbetweeners''. |
| 841 | ** During the radio debacle in 3.5, Peter goes on a 4th-wall-bending rant: "I seem to have wandered into some 1970s Ray Cooney farce. Is the vicar going to come around with Creator/RobinAskwith?" These farces were hugely influential on UK comedy, notably ''Series/FawltyTowers'' and by some extension ''The Thick of It'' itself. |
| 842 | * ShoutOutToShakespeare: In the second episode of season two, Malcolm tells Hugh that the Prime Minister's wife has been [[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} putting poison in her husband's ear]] about him. In the third episode of season four, Glenn compares him and Phil to [[Theatre/RosencrantzAndGuildensternAreDead Rosencrantz and Guildenstern]]. |
| 843 | * ShownTheirWork: The series displays a very extensive and realistic documentation of the inner workings of the offices of Whitehall, and has many fictional counterparts for real politicians. Politicians themselves have commented on the realism, noting that the only thing unrealistic about it is the show's infamous amount of profanity. In real life, it's worse. |
| 844 | * ShroudedInMyth: Cal Richards. "The Fucker, he comin'. He comin' to your town." |
| 845 | * SilverFox: Adam. Apparently he's aware of it, too; he says he entered politics "for the pussy." Malcolm Tucker in the later seasons counts too. Neither is very nice, but that doesn't seem to faze their following. |
| 846 | * SirSwearsalot: Malcolm Tucker is robustly famous/infamous for being a man whose favourite word started with a capital "F" and cropped up in nearly every sentence he spoke. His second-favourite word starts with a "C", so much so that when Peter Capaldi did a PSA for Macmillan in-character, he said he was talking "about the big C, and not my usual big C!" |
| 847 | * SitcomArchNemesis: |
| 848 | ** Peter and Stewart. |
| 849 | ** Phil and Ollie in the Specials and Series 3, though as of Series 4, Adam seems to be Phil's new worst enemy. (Presumably it's handier for Phil, having his enemy in the office.) Also, when Adam was a journalist, he once decreed to Ollie that he was "going to spend the rest of my life dedicated to persecuting you in the most poisonous vendetta ever known in the British media!" It's like a LoveTriangle for people who hate each other. Which would be a Hate Triangle, presumably. |
| 850 | ** Oddly enough, Malcolm doesn't appear to have one, as basically everyone is his enemy. However, he reserves a particular hatred for Steve Fleming, and Fleming for him. |
| 851 | * SlaveToPR: The department, and pretty much the entire Government and Opposition. |
| 852 | * SleazyPolitician: A pretty huge aversion when you think about it. Hugh Abbot is an aversion in the manner of ''Series/YesMinister'' as a Hacker-like self-serving coward. Nicola is also not at all sleazy. Incompetent and self-serving, but not sleazy. Peter Mannion isn't even particularly incompetent, although he makes up for that by being a bit backwards; nevertheless, the ''exact opposite'' of sleazy. Stewart and Malcolm are the sleaziest of the lot, with Stewart refusing to honour the idea that families are off-limits and Malcolm's constant near-villainous antics, but they are appointed Communications Directors and Press Secretaries, not, technically, politicians. |
| 853 | ** This is hinted at in Peter Mannion's backstory, in which he had an affair with his housemaid which ended up producing a son. Though it is downplayed, in that this aspect of Peter's life is clearly long in the past by the time he appears on the series. Coupled with, well, compared to what [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_to_Basics_(campaign) what some of his contemporaries were getting up to]] it's downright tame. |
| 854 | * SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty: Played with in the contrast between the unglamorous offices of [=DoSAC=] and the modern glass-and-chrome design of Opposition HQ. With all of the characters being [[SlaveToPR slaves to PR]], there is also much debate about how shiny the [=MPs=] are allowed to look in public, under the guidance of the parties' spin doctors: |
| 855 | -->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' "People don't like their politicians to be comfortable. They don't like you having expenses, they don't like you being paid, they'd rather you lived in a fucking cave." |
| 856 | -->'''Stewart Pearson''' "...and a Ted Baker suit. We were going to go for Vivienne Westwood or Paul Smith but it was just too expensive" |
| 857 | * SlipIntoSomethingMoreComfortable: Parodied by Malcolm Tucker: "I'd rather slip into something a bit more comfortable — like a fuckin' coma..." |
| 858 | * SmallNameBigEgo: Abounds, as this is a show about politics: |
| 859 | ** A particularly egregious example is John Duggan who says: |
| 860 | ---> '''John Duggan:''' "I am the busiest man in politics. One of the three main reasons my marriage broke up." |
| 861 | ** [[FatIdiot Ben Swain]], who has written a book about "getting ahead in politics" titled "It's The Everything, Stupid". One wonders what on earth he would know on the subject. |
| 862 | ** Terri views herself as detached, professional and the [[OnlySaneMan only sane woman]] in the department, and also feels qualified to offer everyone around her relationship advice at the drop of a hat. She is viewed by everyone else as thoroughly annoying and useless but [[UltimateJobSecurity too much trouble to fire]]. |
| 863 | --->'''Terri Coverley:''' I'm just going to take my media hat off...\ |
| 864 | '''Nicola Murray:''' I honestly never thought you had one. |
| 865 | ** There is also something of a gulf between Ollie's opinion of himself and his abilities and everyone else's opinion of him and his abilities. |
| 866 | ** Averted by Malcolm, who actually is [[InsufferableGenius as important and clever as he thinks he is]]. |
| 867 | ** Cliff Lawton doesn't get a lot of screen time, but it's no doubt an EstablishingCharacterMoment when in the middle of being sacked by Malcolm, he tries to insist Malcolm call him "Minister". |
| 868 | --->'''Malcolm:''' Get used to Cliff. |
| 869 | * SmokingIsGlamorous: Terri tries to invoke this when flirting with Peter Mannion. Unfortunately for her, she's so inept, he doesn't notice. This is not surprising as Terri is inept at everything. |
| 870 | * SmugSnake: Julius Nicholson. "I'm the new Che Guevara. I just need a new moustache and some laser correction eye treatment." |
| 871 | ** Nick Hanway is a bit ''too'' convinced that he's headed for the upper echelons of government, and spends most of ''Spinners and Losers'' gleefully taking credit for Malcolm's ideas. [[spoiler:It proves to be his downfall.]] |
| 872 | ** Steve Fleming, Malcolm's elected arch-nemesis, but with about a millionth of the charm. |
| 873 | * SomeOfMyBestFriendsAreX: |
| 874 | ** Subverted briefly with Ben Swain at the end of "Spinners and Losers"; he says "one of my best friends is an Asian" but also knows, as does Ollie, that saying that ''makes'' him sound like a racist. Made worse by the fact that the offended person wasn't Asian. |
| 875 | ** When Peter Mannion is told to go after "fat cats" he complains that some of his best friends are money-grabbing wankers. |
| 876 | * SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Over the series, Malcolm's enemies have become progressively more powerful, and his conflicts with them have become more interesting as a result. In the first series, Malcolm only had to contend with incompetent politicians and civil servants. By the third, he had gained a genuinely powerful ArchEnemy. |
| 877 | * SpannerInTheWorks: "Do you know what it's like to clean up your own mother's piss?" |
| 878 | * SpellMyNameWithAnS: Early episodes credit Chris Addison as playing "Olly Reeder", which is later changed to "Oliver Reeder", while The Missing [=DoSAC=] Files has him sign himself as Ollie. |
| 879 | ** Toyed with in the first episode of Series 3, where he offers that he's 'Oliver' or 'Ollie' as Nicola prefers; when she leans toward 'Oliver', he then insists on 'Ollie' anyway. |
| 880 | * SpiritualAntithesis: The series can perhaps best be described as "''Series/TheWestWing'''s evil British twin". Both shows have essentially the same premise, as they're both political Dramedies detailing the day-to-day struggles of the frequently overlooked staffers in the ranks of government, but they're as far apart from one another on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism as it's possible to be. ''The West Wing'' is a famously optimistic portrayal of American politics focusing on smart, idealistic young staffers trying to reconcile their principles with political realities; ''The Thick of It'' is a cynical portrayal of British politics focusing on morally bankrupt people who will do absolutely anything to get ahead. ''The West Wing'' gives us an idealized American President in Josiah "Jed" Bartlet, a fearless intellectual who stands by his ideals at any cost; ''The Thick of It'' never even shows us the British Prime Minister, but makes it clear that he's an unreliable SlaveToPR with no real power in the grand scheme of government. |
| 881 | ** Interestingly, ''The West Wing'' almost used the same technique in its portrayal of the President: he originally wasn't supposed to be shown at all, then Creator/AaronSorkin decided that he should be a recurring character (with about three to four appearances per season), then he was made the show's protagonist after Creator/MartinSheen unexpectedly stole the show in the pilot episode. If the writers of The West Wing had gone ahead with their original plan, the two shows would be even more similar. |
| 882 | * SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Series/YesMinister''. |
| 883 | * SpotlightStealingSquad: Malcolm from the Specials onwards. {{Justified}} to a large extent in that he was one of the two original main characters, and since the other one suddenly exited the series off-screen with nothing but a {{Handwave}} focus was naturally shifted to him, even if the show was technically re-tooled as more of an ensemble piece following Hugh's departure. |
| 884 | * StalkerWithACrush: Terri to Peter. |
| 885 | --> '''Peter Mannion:''' Christ, she's actually a bit creepy, it looks as if she's going to launch herself at us at any second. |
| 886 | * TheStarscream: |
| 887 | ** Ollie Reeder with his many attempts to enter the "political fuckoffosphere". Actually works, as by the end of the series, he's become this to [[spoiler:Malcolm]]. |
| 888 | ** Defied with Jamie: Malcolm specifically chose a BastardUnderstudy too batshit to pull off a successful betrayal. Eventually he does make a rather pathetic attempt, which fails horribly. |
| 889 | ** Dan Miller MP ''is'' this trope. While the "brushed-aluminium cyberprick" never openly admits it, everyone knows he has designs on being the Party leader. |
| 890 | ** In Series 4, Malcolm himself also becomes this, as he teams up with Dan Miller against Nicola Murray, now Leader of the Opposition, despite outwardly still supporting her. |
| 891 | ** In the third episode of Series 4, Fergus and Adam actively try to undermine Peter Mannion in the wake of [[spoiler:Mr. Tickel's suicide]]. |
| 892 | * StayInTheKitchen: "Emma, the men are talking." (Unfortunately for Phil, Stewart actually prefers Emma.) |
| 893 | * StealthInsult: |
| 894 | ** "I'm not talking above you. Neither am I talking ''down to you''." Perhaps Malcolm's only foray into GentlemanSnarker territory. |
| 895 | ** Another foray: "I know that these are hard times for print journalists, yeah? I mean, I read that on the internet..." |
| 896 | * SuddenlyShouting: Surprisingly little, considering how much time the characters do spend shouting, but Malcolm Tucker does provide an amusing BaitAndSwitch when asked by a nameless extra to stop cursing so much: |
| 897 | --->'''Employee''': ''[Interrupting a shouting match between Malcolm and the [=DoSAC=] Minister's office]'' Excuse me, could you stop swearing?\ |
| 898 | '''Malcolm''': Oh, I'm terribly sorry. You won't hear any more swearing from us, you MASSIVE! GAY! SHITE! FUCK OFF! |
| 899 | ** Arguably one of the most spectacular is the dressing-down of Hugh Abbot outside the goldfish bowl. Because there's a journalist in said conference room, Malcolm is trying to speak as quietly as possible so nothing ends up on the record, but he can't quite stop his anger at Hugh from boiling over; as such, half the conversation is conducted in deathly-quiet murmuring rendered almost inaudible by the conference room windows, and the other half, well... |
| 900 | -->They're running about your fucking flat, I fucking ''told'' you about that. Why the fuck did you not tell me about it ''YOU STUPID CUNT!'' How am I supposed to do my job if I don't know WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?! YOU'RE A FUCKING ''PRICK!'' AN ABSOLUTE CUNT, DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT? |
| 901 | * SuicideIsShameful: Phil believes this in regards to Mr. Tickel's death: |
| 902 | -->We don't even know why he killed himself yet. I mean, suicide, it's pathetic! At least take some of your enemies with you, that's a noble death. |
| 903 | * SurroundedByIdiots: Malcolm is the only character who seems competent at his job. His hapless colleagues never seem to learn that they ignore his advice at their peril, and often leave him to mop up the ensuing hurricanes of piss. |
| 904 | * SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Nicola Murray replacing Hugh Abbot. Her only points of difference with her predecessor are that she's a woman, and that she's not best friends with her main ministerial advisor. This is entirely justified, as the premise of the show is that all politicians are the same. |
| 905 | * TheSvengali: Malcolm Tucker fits the trope perfectly, although instead of mentoring a specific person like this, he obsessively controls his entire Party. His VillainousBreakdown in Series 4 even involves him screaming at someone objecting to his plan, because he is doing it all for the Party, and no-one should dare ever question what he would do for the Party. |
| 906 | * TakeThat: |
| 907 | ** The second episode has Malcolm and Hugh watch ''Series/TheBill''. When Hugh says "Oh, shit" in reaction to seeing the woman from the focus group in an episode, Malcolm replies, "Yeah, I know, but people watch it. This gets 6,000,000". |
| 908 | ** The season 3 episode in which Nicola and Peter are interviewed by Richard Bacon contains references to two other Five Live broadcasters, Simon Mayo and Creator/MarkKermode. The reference to Kermode is only an off-hand, blink-and-you'll-miss-it comment about his supposedly "massive" hands by Ollie, but it seems to have taken on a memetic life of its own around Kermode. |
| 909 | ** The show takes fairly regular potshots at ''Series/TopGearUK'', especially Phil being disparagingly compared to Creator/JamesMay and Malcolm saying Creator/RichardHammond needs a punch in the face. In another episode, Malcolm says that he hates Steve Fleming "as much as James May presumably hates himself." |
| 910 | ** Jamie excoriates Ollie after he not only fails to find out opposition secrets from Emma, but actually spills government secrets ''to'' her: |
| 911 | -->'''Jamie''': You're the shittest James Bond ever! You're [[Film/CasinoRoyale1967 David fucking Niven]]! |
| 912 | ** Steve Fleming claims that people refer to him and Malcolm as "[[Music/{{Oasis}} The Gallagher Brothers]] of politics". Malcolm's response: |
| 913 | -->How does that work? Does that mean that I'm the semi-talented songwriter and you're the fucking loutish prick? That's a lovely analogy. |
| 914 | ** Malcolm tells Steve Fleming that nobody has an opinion of him, like Special K or Music/TheMoodyBlues. |
| 915 | ** When they no longer have Andy Murray to front a campaign, various other famous athletes are considered: |
| 916 | -->'''Nicola''': Steve Redgrave. |
| 917 | -->'''Malcolm''': He's a boring fuck! |
| 918 | -->'''Nicola''': Lewis Hamilton. |
| 919 | -->'''Malcolm''': Fucking boring, boring fuck. And fucking drives a car. |
| 920 | -->'''Nicola''': Chris Boardman. |
| 921 | -->'''Malcolm''': Fucking cyclist! Are you fucking mental? ''Everybody'' hates cyclists! Even fucking cyclists hate fucking cyclists! Plus, ''he'''s a boring fuck! |
| 922 | -->'''Nicola''': I cannot... |
| 923 | -->'''Terri''': Paula Radcliffe? |
| 924 | -->'''Nicola''': No, she shat in the street! |
| 925 | -->'''Malcolm''': And she's a boring fuck as well. |
| 926 | ** In the longer version of the scene where Glenn tries to rejoin Malcolm, the latter replies, "Well, unfortunately, that ship has sailed, hit a fucking iceberg, sunk, and Creator/JulianFellowes has written a fucking shit drama about it". |
| 927 | ** A deleted scene from the final episode reveals that Peter has never heard of ''Series/WillAndGrace''. Phil tells him that it's better that way. |
| 928 | ** In a series where everybody is a terrible person on some level, it's hard not to see a little WriterOnBoard when Glenn (a ''slightly'' better person than most) calls [[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers former Daily Mail editor]] Adam "the single most loathsome person I've ever met". |
| 929 | * TakeThisJobAndShoveIt: In the final episode, Glenn has finally had enough of the atmosphere and lack of morals of [=DoSAC=] and the fact that he's been given nothing worthwile to join and resigns, giving his co-workers a lengthy rant about how much he hates them. |
| 930 | * TeamDad: Malcolm Tucker is ''Her Majesty's Government'''s Team Dad. The scariest, most abusive one imaginable. |
| 931 | -->"Never mind what Mummy says, just do what Daddy says." |
| 932 | * TeethClenchedTeamwork: Virtually every character seems to think they're the lone isle of sanity [[SurroundedByIdiots in a sea of]] idiots, blowhards and knobheads. This is especially evident with the coalition in Series 4, where it's common knowledge that the two parties hate each other despite their attempts to present a united front: |
| 933 | -->'''Adam:''' "Do you think we could just ''pretend'' to behave like compassionate professions in control? Just for once?" |
| 934 | * TemporarySubstitute: In season two, Robyn fills in for Terri due to her father having a stroke, which he later dies of. |
| 935 | * TenMinuteRetirement: [[spoiler: Malcolm]] gets a call from Julius Nicholson at the 0:8:20 mark of [=S3E08=]. And then, at 0:9:31, [[spoiler: "Would you be prepared to come back?"]], making this trope almost ''literal'' from the audience's perspective. |
| 936 | * ThatMakesMeFeelAngry: PlayedForLaughs. |
| 937 | -->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' [[DeathGlare You've made me very, very happy]].\ |
| 938 | '''Ollie Reeder:''' [[SarcasmMode Yeah, you look it]]. |
| 939 | * ThoseTwoGuys: Glenn and Ollie fulfil this role as secondary aides to the central protagonist (initially Hugh, later Nicola). They almost always appear together and banter off one another, with an older/younger contrast. |
| 940 | ** In season four, they are almost directly replaced by Fergus Williams MP and his special advisor Adam Kenyon, who are rarely seen apart from each other. Glenn and Ollie do reunite in the hospital in Episode 4, however. |
| 941 | * TimePassageBeard: Malcolm, Jamie, and Nice Nutter Nick all have noticeable five o'clock shadows at the end of Spinners and Losers, as they've been up all night. This is in contrast to Dan Miller (brushed aluminium cyberprick) who is inevitably clean-shaven due to sitting out the evening's shenanigans. |
| 942 | * TookALevelInBadass: Season 4 has several characters suddenly become much more competent. Emma has risen from being Phil's equal to a level where she can openly bark at Stewart and Peter, and, much to his own surprise, [[spoiler: Ollie]] becomes Malcolm's new [[TheDragon dragon]], and actually snarks back and argues with him. |
| 943 | * TotallyRadical: The second episode shows how out-of-touch Hugh is by having his say things like "funky", "with it" and "daddy-o". Malcolm even tells him to never say "with it". |
| 944 | * ToughRoom: While the series does use ActuallyPrettyFunny quite a lot, too--it's set in a very aggressive environment where being funnier than everyone around you is both a survival strategy and proof of dominance--it's worth pointing out that even characters treated by everyone else as stupid (like ManChild Phil) or annoying (BeleagueredBureaucrat Terri) are all far, far funnier, wittier and quicker than anyone could possibly be in real life. This comes under AcceptableBreaksFromReality in that these characterizations are expressed instead by the ''quality'' of their observations, rather than not having them make them (for instance, the other Coalition politicians disgustedly remark that all of Phil's clever references and comparisons are to fiction, usually fantasy fiction (''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''), fiction aimed at children (''Series/DoctorWho''), or both (''Literature/HarryPotter''). It's also played within that even though Malcolm is acknowledged in-universe as an incredibly funny person, most other characters are [[TheDreaded far too terrified of him]] to dare laugh at anything he does most of the time. |
| 945 | ** There's one scene where the name of Ollie's favourite film temporarily slips Malcolm's mind and so he describes it as "the one about the fucking hairdresser, the [[JustForFun/RecycledINSPACE space hairdresser]] and the cowboy. He's got a tinfoil pal and a pedal bin. His father's a robot and he's fuckin' [[BrotherSisterIncest fucked his sister]]. Franchise/{{LEGO}}, they're all made of fucking LEGO." Even after Ollie figures out what the film is ([[spoiler:''Franchise/StarWars'']]), he reacts with bewilderment and mild annoyance instead of the hysterical laughter this would more likely cause. |
| 946 | * TruthInTelevision: |
| 947 | ** The two specials tied in with Tony Blair's resignation. |
| 948 | ** The swearing is apparently authentic: there are several UsefulNotes/{{Whitehall}} insiders among the crew, including writer Jesse Armstrong and adviser Martin Sixsmith. Creator/ArmandoIannucci is often approached by UsefulNotes/{{Whitehall}} staffers who tell him the reality is ''even worse'' than they imagine. |
| 949 | ** A Whitehaller approached Creator/RebeccaFront after [=S4E02=] and told her "Shad Cab? ''Exactly'' like that." |
| 950 | * {{Tuckerization}}: On the series one DVD commentary the character names are discussed, and it emerges that several of them came from writer Jesse Armstrong's five-a-side football team. These Tuckerizations include...Malcolm Tucker. |
| 951 | * TurnInYourBadge: "Actually I'm gonna need that, that's an official Blackberry..." |
| 952 | * TwoOfYourEarthMinutes: Stewart asks his colleagues for "thirty of your Earth seconds" before making an announcement. Though strictly speaking Stewart's not an alien, just an obnoxious PR hack. |
| 953 | * TyrantTakesTheHelm: |
| 954 | ** Steve Fleming. At first his colleagues are happy to see the back of Malcolm Tucker but when they realize how creepy, charmless and bad-tempered his replacement is they decide they want their jerk to come back from his TenMinuteRetirement. |
| 955 | ** Cal "The Fucker" Richards, who replaces Stewart Pearson as Opposition campaign manager in the Season Three finale. His openly psychotic demeanour terrifies everyone, even the usually unflappable Peter Mannion. Fortunately Cal's only around for one episode, but things can't have been pleasant. |
| 956 | * UltimateJobSecurity: |
| 957 | ** Jamie. How someone this close to being feral was even allowed into Number 10 is never explained. |
| 958 | ** As a member of Her Majesty's Civil Service, Terri is practically unsackable. This is TruthInTelevision: civil servants aren't impossible to sack, but nearly so; troublesome, ineffective or surplus civil servants tend to be KickedUpstairs or persuaded to take voluntary redundancy. This is taken to extremes in the first episode of the fourth series, where she deliberately tries to get herself fired and still manages to keep her job. |
| 959 | --->'''Glenn Cullen:''' You've got a contract! You're on the [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar last chopper out of Saigon]], I'm having it up the arse with Ho Chi Minh! |
| 960 | ** Robyn is pretty useless but her job security will be assured for as long as Glenn is in charge of sacking people. |
| 961 | * UndyingLoyalty: Sam and Malcolm to each other; their relationship highlights the fact that Malcolm isn't just a Glaswegian thug in a suit, but a professional that acts like he does because he's all but forced to by the incompetent sycophants he must tolerate daily. Sam is GOOD at her job, and he rewards this effort by treating her with genuine respect and deference. She, in turn, stays on as his PA for at least the eight-year run of the show, during which every other professional relationship and alliance portrayed within the series is destroyed completely at least once. This includes her crossing over into opposition with him after his party loses the election, and she even bursts into tears when he is temporarily sacked (at which he immediately attempts to console/defend her). |
| 962 | * TheUnfettered: Malcolm keeps his Party in power by any means necessary: blackmail, physical threats, and violence are all in his arsenal. Total lack of scruples is a job requirement, with his more idealistic opposite number, Stewart Pearson, playing just as dirty as him. |
| 963 | * UnfortunateNames: "Music/{{Elvis|Presley}}... sorry, ''[[Music/CliffRichard Cliff]]''!" Poor Cliff Lawton's parents probably didn't envisage their son going into politics. |
| 964 | ** Mr. Tickel, sometimes pronounced "Tickle". ''Mr. Men'' jokes ensue. |
| 965 | * UnresolvedSexualTension: |
| 966 | ** There's a lot between Malcolm Tucker and Nicola Murray. Her poor relationship with her husband is alluded to frequently, whereas he sees her a lot to deal with the latest PR disaster, and shifts between giving her truly Olympian bollockings for some of them and showing an uncharacteristic level of sympathy for others. |
| 967 | ** Emma and Phil also, with their childish verbal slanging matches they have against each other in almost every episode. The sexual tension is lampshaded by several different characters. Glenn even refers to them as "Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips". |
| 968 | * UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Everyone. The two primary ministers, Hugh Abbott in Series 1 and Nicola Murray in Series 3, actually tend to be more sympathetic due to them being basically good people broken over time by the political machine. |
| 969 | * UnwantedAssistance: In retrospect, Malcolm's idea of turning Duggan's scrotum into a muppet and using it as the party mouthpiece would have worked a whole lot better than allowing Duggan to continue helping them, if only because the muppet might be able to function more effectively. |
| 970 | * UnwittingPawn: Nick Hanway. The spin doctor is convinced that the appointment of a new Prime Minister will also require a new chief spin doctor, but he seriously underestimates Malcolm Tucker... |
| 971 | * VSign: |
| 972 | ** Malcolm has a little message for the journalists who follow him home after [[spoiler:his sacking]]. |
| 973 | ** He has another for Ollie when he fails to answer his phone: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKdsMr-6GrA That's for you]], [[Film/HighSchoolMusical Cack Efron]]." |
| 974 | * VetinariJobSecurity: Malcolm has worked very hard to put himself in this position, though his grip on things is slipping in series three. However, when he's [[spoiler: fired, we get glimpses of a government without Malcolm: Steve Fleming is creeping around being a creepy creep and scaring everyone, a handful of cabinet ministers revolt and Dan Miller's cabal apparently see it as an opportunity to launch a leadership bid. Needless to say, Malcolm is quickly called back.]] |
| 975 | --> '''Malcolm:''' I am the heart. I am the ventricles! |
| 976 | * VillainHasAPoint: "There's no happiness without order" is a Nazi quote, but according to Phil, it "nonetheless stands the test of time." |
| 977 | * VillainousBreakdown: |
| 978 | ** "I'M NOT FUCKING WORRIED, MATE! Fuck him-fuck-him-fuck-him-FUCK HIM!" |
| 979 | ** "I AM GOING TO JOIN [[TheStarscream DAN MILLER'S]] TEAM, AND WE ARE GOING TO TAKE YOU DOWN! WE ARE GOING TO TAKE YOU DOWN TO FUNKY TOWN! FUNKY TOWN CENTRE, HERE YOU COME! CHOO-FUCKING-CHOO!" |
| 980 | ** Episode 3 of Series 4 sees Stewart howl in fury, smash a phone and collapse onto the floor when he finds out about the final disaster in what has been a ''really'' bad day. |
| 981 | ** Episode 4.06 sees Malcolm undergoing one [[spoiler: right in the middle of the Inquiry, starting with a rant on how everyone leaks not just in the government but all over the country, then bitterly declaring that everything about the culture of spin and leaking has been 'laid on his doorstep' because of who he is and 'you can't arrest a country'...and saying he's 'finished anyway' before quietly getting up and leaving.]] |
| 982 | * VillainousBSOD: Malcolm is finally driven to one in series 3: "I USED TO BE THE FUCKIN' PHARAOH!" |
| 983 | * VillainousFriendship: Fergus and Adam are two of the most odious wankers in the show, yet ironically, they seem to get along better than almost anyone else. They're practically the only relationship that isn't destroyed by the end of the series. |
| 984 | * ViolentGlaswegian: |
| 985 | ** Malcolm and Jamie epitomise this trope. Malcolm gets called the "Gorbals Goebbels", suggesting he came from a rough part of Glasgow. Jamie is actually from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motherwell Motherwell.]] |
| 986 | ** "Just because you two were raised by Scotch wolves." This show proves that threats sound more menacing in [[UsefulNotes/BritishAccents Glaswegian]]. Ironically, Creator/PaulHiggins [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2007/aug/15/edinburghfestival2007.edinburghfestival1 hates this trope.]] |
| 987 | * VitriolicBestBuds: Ollie and Glenn developed shades of this as in season three. Seems to have been genuine in at least one direction; Glenn's excoriation of Ollie's character to the Inquiry after he's stabbed Glenn in the back reveals a sense of utter betrayal. |
| 988 | * VolatileSecondTierPosition: |
| 989 | ** The Minister for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship. Gathering together all the miscellaneous tasks that no other department wants to deal with, [=DoSaC's=] rather nebulous status means that it gets the least funding and its minister wields almost zero influence - or as one put it, "as much real power as those twats who sit either side of Alan Sugar." Add to that a reputation for screwing up absolutely everything it touches, and by series 3, nobody wants to assume leadership of [=DoSaC=] in case it ends up doing the same to their careers, to the point that only the most cowardly, naive or obscure ministers can be pressured into it... a fact that doesn't exactly help their popular image. Worse still, career damage is as inevitable as feared: of all the heads of the department encountered on the show, only one ever managed ascended to higher office, namely Leader of the Opposition - and that was only due to a technicality. Finally, [=DoSaC's=] gaffe-prone nature has resulted in a comparatively High Turnover Rate among its ministers: Cliff Lawton's eighteen-month tenure was considered "a good innings" by department standards! |
| 990 | ** Generally speaking, being TheDragon to a minister is a very tricky proposition. Sure, there's the chance of using your boss as a springboard into "the political fuckoffosphere," but that level of closeness comes with a worrying array of hazards. Among other things, if you've hitched your horse too closely to a specific minister, your career might end up permanently stalled if they're forced off the job - as is the case with Glenn Clullen; they might end up taking you down with them into disrepute or failure - as was the case with Ollie during "Spinners And Losers"; you can even be used as a scapegoat in order to take the heat off the minister. |
| 991 | * VolleyingInsults: Surprisingly, the series doesn't have as many as you'd think. Arguments frequently occur, but they're usually about something that needs to be dealt with quickly and so seldom become simple insult contests. Also, the fact that most of the arguments involve Malcolm Tucker, who can steamroller most opposition fairly easily, means that the shouting matches don't drag on for as long as a fight between equals would. |
| 992 | * WalkAndTalk: Possibly the only thing it ''does'' have in common with ''Series/TheWestWing''. |
| 993 | * WalkInChimeIn: In "The Rise of the Nutters", Emma and Phil are discussing Olly. Phil brags that he's slept with three women, prompting Olly to interject with "In your life?" |
| 994 | * WanderingWalkOfMadness: PlayedForLaughs: after a harrowing first-time bollocking from Malcolm Tucker, Opposition aide Phil Smith wanders off in a traumatized daze and, according to a deleted scene, actually left the building altogether; he was so terrified that he didn't stop walking until he reached Greenwich - a good ten kilometres away! |
| 995 | * {{Wangst}}: In-universe: in "Spinners and Losers", it's a source of some frustration to Jamie that all of Cliff Lawton's attempts at writing a comeback speech seem to degenerate into whining about how Malcolm Tucker got him sacked. |
| 996 | -->'''Jamie:''' Nobody gives a shit if you got shafted by Malcolm. |
| 997 | -->'''Cliff Lawton:''' I will never, ''ever'' forgive him for what he did to me... |
| 998 | -->'''Jamie:''' Jesus, this isn't ''Series/EastEnders'', this is politics! We're all in the same plague pit Cliff, there's no clean hands! |
| 999 | * WaxingLyrical: |
| 1000 | ** In the first episode, Malcolm confronts Hugh about an announcement he didn't make. Hugh explains that he killed the story, to which Malcolm responds by quoting Music/BillyJoel's "We Didn't Start the Fire". |
| 1001 | ** In the second episode, Hugh meets with a woman from a focus group who claims to be "every woman", prompting Ollie to chime in with "It's all in me", in reference to the Chaka Khan song. Surprisingly, Hugh has heard of it. |
| 1002 | ** In the first episode of season two, Malcolm tells Olly to "[[Creator/MorecambeAndWise Bring me sunshine]]". |
| 1003 | ** In the second episode of season four, when motivating Nicola, Malcolm says "She's got Creator/BetteDavis eyes", in reference to the song by Kim Carnes. |
| 1004 | ** A deleted scene from "The Rise of the Nutters" has Peter answer if he likes people by quoting "People" by Music/BarbraStreisand. |
| 1005 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: Beneath the buzzwords and self-righteousness, Stewart is genuinely a social liberal who believes in gender equality, environmentalism and inclusiveness. He really does want to modernise the party and make it kinder and less regressive. Unfortunately he seems to underestimate the size of the task, praising the unseen Premier as "genuinely progressive" despite other characters hinting he is anything but. It's likely he is being manipulated by his employers, who say they want to make the party less conservative, but are actually just indulging in a public relations exercise to seem less conservative. Whatever the case, long before his ''extremely'' bitter final speech though, he realizes it's a lost cause. |
| 1006 | * WeUsedToBeFriends: Throughout the series, Glenn and Ollie spend most of their time playfully insulting each other. Then, during season four, Glenn switches over to the Coalition and hates it so much that he tries to rejoin, only to be cruelly rebuffed by Malcolm and Ollie does nothing. At the Goolding Inquiry, Glenn even apologises for bringing Ollie into the world of politics, calling him a spineless worm. This implies that they had a mentor/student relationship at one point, which just makes Ollie's betrayal worse. |
| 1007 | * WeWantOurJerkBack: |
| 1008 | ** Glenn on [[spoiler:Malcolm's sacking]]: "Is this good? I mean, it ''feels'' good, but are you sure it's good?" The situation sends Nicola into a state of AntagonistInMourning. |
| 1009 | ** In one episode we see Malcolm wearing a snuggly fleece, smiling at the [=DoSAC=] staff and making tea for everyone. Somehow the new "[[NotHimself Nice Malcolm]]" is even more frightening than "[=YesterMalcolm=]". |
| 1010 | --> '''Glenn:''' Christ, is he dying or something? |
| 1011 | ** Peter Mannion openly hates Stewart Pearson, but even he's not sure about The Fucker replacing him - or as Stewart tells him: "BetterTheDevilYouKnow, eh?" |
| 1012 | * WeWillUseWikiWordsInTheFuture: Not if Ollie has anything to do with it, though. "Don't say [=ShadCab=]...it's like saying [=SpagBol=]." |
| 1013 | * WhamEpisode: |
| 1014 | ** Episode 7, series 3 starts off like any other episode before it turns into several people outright attacking Malcolm and culminates in him getting sacked in the last couple of scenes. |
| 1015 | ** Series 4, Episode 6. With a WhamLine just before the closing credits, to boot. |
| 1016 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Jamie, after playing a fairly prominent role in the post season 2 specials, vanishes without explanation for seasons 3 and 4. Given the he was last seen siding against Malcolm in the leadership contest, though, it seems safe to assume that he probably doesn't have a job any more. |
| 1017 | * WhileYouWereInDiapers: In a deleted scene from "The Rise of the Nutters", Ollie calls Malcolm homophobic after a string of gay jokes. Malcolm shuts him up: |
| 1018 | -->I was helping to repeal anti-gay legislations while you smoking fag behind the school bike shed. |
| 1019 | * WillTheyOrWontThey: Malcolm and Nicola. They never will. And it is wonderful. |
| 1020 | --> "Malcolm... if you could just come to the toilet with me..." |
| 1021 | * WindbagPolitician: Nicola's speeches are legendarily terrible. |
| 1022 | * WithFriendsLikeThese: There are no friends in politics indeed. By the end of the series, the only relationships that are intact are Malcolm and Sam and Fergus and Adam. |
| 1023 | ** Just because Hugh is friends with Glenn doesn't mean he won't cheerfully betray him in a bid to make himself look good. By his final appearance, his actions have destroyed the friendship between the two. |
| 1024 | ** Just about every character will throw each other under the bus to save their own skin, but Olly really takes the cake. By the end, every relationship he's had is destroyed thanks to his ambition and machinations. |
| 1025 | * {{Workaholic}}: |
| 1026 | ** Much is made of Hugh never really seeing his family. This is TruthInTelevision, as many politicians spend most of their time at UsefulNotes/{{Whitehall}} and don't spend a lot of time with their families: |
| 1027 | --->"Lots of love via Glenn, and nighty-night." |
| 1028 | ** Series 3 sees Malcolm take his first holiday in ten years. He spends it in his house with a bunch of journalists: |
| 1029 | --->'''Glenn Cullen:''' Malcolm doesn't take holidays, he has to keep moving or he dies--he's like a shark or Music/BobDylan.\ |
| 1030 | '''Malcolm Tucker:''' Lying on your back getting fed nutrients through a tube? That's my idea of a fuckin' holiday. |
| 1031 | * WorkCom: Virtually the entire show occurs within the confines of Whitehall. We never see Hugh's wife and kids, or see Malcolm and Jamie at the pub, for example. We do get to see Ollie with his girlfriend at her flat, but only because she works for the Opposition. |
| 1032 | * WorldOfJerkass: This being the world of politics, everyone is a terrible person to various degrees (with the exceptions of Glenn and Sam), being either amoral or motivated by self-interest. |
| 1033 | * WorldOfSnark |
| 1034 | * WouldNotShootACivilian: Malcolm Tucker explicitly invokes this trope when asked, during the Goolding Inquiry whether he was involved in the leak of Mr. Tickel's illegally acquired medical records which ultimately led to the man's suicide. Tucker compares political power struggles to a combat environment, and vehemently denies any involvement with the leak, stating that while he's ''totally okay'' with the backstabbing and leaking that goes on behind the scenes, he would never do anything like that to someone who is not actively involved in politics. [[CorruptPolitician He is, of course, lying through his teeth.]] |
| 1035 | * WouldntHitAGirl: Malcolm claims he wouldn't hit a woman. Of course, this doesn't stop him from [[spoiler:punching Glenn]]. |
| 1036 | * WrittenInAbsence: While the specials were in production, Chris Langham was on trial for child pornography, so Hugh is said to be in Australia. |
| 1037 | * WrongInsultOffence: |
| 1038 | -->'''Ollie Reader:''' Malcolm, you're bullying me...\ |
| 1039 | '''Malcolm Tucker:''' How dare you! How dare you! Don't you ever, ever call me a bully... ''I'm so much worse than that.''" |
| 1040 | * TheXOfY: ''Rise of the Nutters''. |
| 1041 | * XanatosSpeedChess: Malcolm starts off "Spinners and Losers" in the cold and completely out of the loop, when his boss the Prime Minister resigns. After an ongoing succession of white lies, innocuous power plays and complicated gambits, the episode ends with Malcolm [[spoiler:being welcomed to Tom's inner leadership team, and utterly destroying his rival Nick Hanway's career in the process.]] |
| 1042 | * XtremeKoolLetterz: Emma wonders why people leaving hate mail on Peter's blog spell "hate" as "h8". "If you're going to leave a message, at least spell it correctly." |
| 1043 | * YankTheDogsChain: Peter Mannion does an emphatically decent thing by refusing to use Nicola's daughter's school troubles to his side's advantage. As he maintains to Stewart that they'll conduct themselves honourably, Malcolm is over at Number 10 convincing Nicola that there's no such thing as honour, which culminates in Nicola calling Mannion to tell him that nothing in his personal life is off-limits. Cue gloating from Stewart. Poor Peter. |
| 1044 | ** Glenn's intention to stand for election, scoped and dropped by Nicola's latest PR disaster. |
| 1045 | * YouAreWhatYouHate: [[spoiler:Ollie Reeder eventually usurps his hated, bullying "mentor" Malcolm Tucker and takes his job]]. |
| 1046 | * YouDidEverythingYouCould: Abused by Malcolm. He tells Glenn and Olly "you tried, you really tried" when they fail to steer Nicola Murray out of an embarrassing photo opportunity...which Malcolm had deliberately steered her into as part of his latest scheme. His reassuring words were just a means of covering it up. |
| 1047 | * YouGetMeCoffee: |
| 1048 | ** Glenn seems spend half his time in Series 4 offering to make tea for people. It doesn't get him any love or respect. Indeed, people use it as an excuse to sidle out of the room when he's not looking. Poor Glenn. |
| 1049 | ** Making tea seems to be Robyn's entire purpose in life, even though her job title is Senior Press Officer. We find out in [=S4E6=] she is [[TheResenter extremely miffed]] about this. |
| 1050 | * YouKnowImBlackRight: When Ollie suggests "making special needs kids clean up graffiti" as a policy idea, Hugh tries to make him feel some remorse, wrongly assuming that a complete prick like Ollie may be capable of feeling any: |
| 1051 | --> '''Hugh Abbott:''' "You just took a shit with your clothes on Ollie--Glenn's boy, Peter, he went to a special needs school." |
| 1052 | --> '''Ollie Reeder:''' "Oh... ({{beat}}) Glenn's ''had sex''?" |
| 1053 | * YouNeedToGetLaid: Hugh and Ollie gang up on Glenn--"The last time you saw a snatch was..." "''Film/BasicInstinct!''" |
| 1054 | ** Emma thinks this about Phil: "I'll put a sex grid on the fridge...so that you can have dates and stuff and I'll put an A4 piece of paper for me up, and maybe you could have half a Post-It note?" |
| 1055 | ** In a moment of panic, Phil himself admits to Mannion that his personal life is nonexistent and that he hasn't been laid in over 5 years. |
| 1056 | ** [[JerkJock Adam]] tells Emma she needs to "get a boyfriend." ([[HeteronormativeCrusader She]] tells him to "come out".) |
| 1057 | * YouShallNotPass: [[ProudToBeAGeek Phil]] utters this exact phrase when trying to keep Adam from talking to Peter. Naturally, [[JerkJock Adam]] ignores him. |
| 1058 | * YoungerThanTheyLook: Actor Alex [=MacQueen=] is in his mid-thirties (and is actually younger than Chris Addison), but his character, Julius Nicholson, looks much older, thanks to his [[PrematurelyBald massive shiny head]]. Old enough to play a [[UsefulNotes/BritishPoliticalSystem life peer]], at least: |
| 1059 | -->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' "Have you got all your stuff ready for your official Lording ceremony? Have you got your mink thong and your [[ErmineCapeEffect ermine]] colostomy bag?" |
| 1060 | ---- |
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