'The Thick of It' is slowly becoming more and more popular especially as political scandals are becoming more frequent in headlines. The writing, acting and dialogue are all strong points in this series.
The acting from people such as Rebecca Front, Chris Addison, Paul Higgins and of course Peter Capaldi are excellent. They don't all play particularly likable characters but that is the purpose of this show, to highlight the dark side of British politics.
Armando Ianucci's direction and scripts are excellent, the stories are very realistic and on some occasions this show has even managed to predict an actual occurrence in Westminster before it has actually happened, that is how intelligent this show is. If you have an interest in politics you will love this show, if you dislike swearing you will loathe it; the dialogue particularly from Capaldi's Malcolm Tucker is obscene nearly all the time, he provides about 75% of the comedy in this series. The show is quite unique because of the amount of swearing included within it, especially since it is a BBC programme.
The first and second series were good but the third series has been the best so far. The only thing missing from the third series was Paul Higgins' character Jamie MacDonald who had small parts in the first and second series and worked really well alongside Malcolm Tucker. The fourth series has now been shot and is scheduled to return later on this year (2012).
Overall, I would thoroughly recommend this TV series. People outside the UK may struggle understanding the plots of each episode, however. Its documentary style filming method takes a while to get used to but it suits the nature of the series perfectly. If you like this programme try 'In The Loop', the film based on this series, also starring Peter Capaldi, Paul Higgins and Chris Addison.
