That's ******g it! The Thick of It will definitely not be coming back says writer Simon Blackwell
The BBC satire - which showcased Peter Capaldi's world-famous swearing as Malcolm Tucker - was put to bed even before Capaldi was cast in Doctor Who, says Blackwell
The Thick of It will not be coming back, co-writer Simon Blackwell has confirmed.
Blackwell told RadioTimes.com that the production team will not bring back the political satire, which ended on BBC2 in October 2012 with Peter Capaldi’s central character, sweary spin-doctor Malcolm Tucker, facing jail.
“We have sort of done it," said Blackwell, who was on the writing team alongside Tony Roche and showrunner Armando Iannucci. "I think we have really put it to bed with the last series. Malcolm went off to prison and now he’s Doctor Who.
“We took the decision even before he was cast. We didn’t want to to repeat ourselves and wanted to finish while everybody was loving it.
“It was so hard to do it and get those people together. But we have put it to rest and sent Malcolm to jail.”
Blackwell’s comments will come as bad news to fans who had been given to believe that a reprise was at least a possibility for the comedy which first aired on BBC4 in 2005.
When asked at last year's Bafta TV awards about the possibility of bringing it back, Capaldi suggested that his character could be rediscovered in ”years to come".
"I think we should just leave Malcolm languishing in some terrible media job somewhere," he said. "We'll discover him maybe in some years to come, but I think we should leave him for the moment."
However, Capaldi admitted that The Thick of It's time has "drifted away" since "politics changes all the time".
"It is a generational thing [and] younger people come in," he explained. "So I think it was appropriate that we moved on, because I really think our time drifted away – the party, the show, and particularly my character."
Speaking to RadioTimes.com, Blackwell confirmed that series three of another of his collaborations – the US comedy Veep starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the US Vice-President – is likely to air on British screens at the end of the summer.
Blackwell has co-written a new comedy called Trying Again with The Thick of It actor Chris Addison for Sky Living.
Trying Again starts on Sky Living at 9pm tonight (24 April)
