This Quietly Ruthless 4-Part Sitcom Left Every Other Political Satire in the Dust

When Armando Iannucci’s The Thick of It launched on the BBC in 2005, there was still an element of relief in thinking the disastrous Westminster being portrayed was hammed up for television. Completely believable bureaucracy, but with too many avoidable blunders being quashed by spin to feel truly close to real life. However, The Thick of It aired 12 years before the sale of red caps and orange foundation spiked, and before the United Kingdom had a Prime Minister who, in just 44 days, buried the longest-reigning monarch and was outlasted by an iceberg lettuce. So perhaps The Thick of It didn’t go hard enough.