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Product Description
Featuring every series, special episode and bonus extra of the BAFTA and British Comedy award winning series. Series 1 was formed of the first three episodes ever made. Then another three episodes were broadcast and called 'Series 2'. Then came the specials. Following on from those came the most recent eight episodes, which were compiled as 'Series 3'. When the first six episodes (Series 1 and 2) came out on DVD, the release merged them into one series and call it 'Series 1', which explains why ‘Series 2’ isn’t available separately on DVD (it’s now part of ‘Series 1’). This release comprises all three series, plus the specials, so there are no unreleased episodes to miss out on.
Welcome to the Ministry for Social Affairs and Citizenship (DoSAC), a government department barely registering on the Today Programme radar, but high-profile enough to receive the attentions of Malcolm Tucker, the government's director of communications, whose ferocity is only matched by his skill in delivering incredible, foul-mouthed tirades.
Successive ministers (Hugh Abbott and Nicola Murray) and their backroom team lie, backstab and hopelessly bluff their way through gaffes, crises, Prime Ministerial resignations and possible election dates – only thankful that Shadow minister, Peter Mannion also has little idea what is going on…
Irreverent, brilliantly sweary and painfully funny, this series smashes its way through the corridors of power in a bulldozer of hilarious farce and sharp satire.
Product Description
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2.4 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital Stereo ), English ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Box Set, Interactive Menu, Multi-DVD Set, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Featuring every series, special episode and bonus extra of the BAFTA and British Comedy award winning series. Welcome to the Ministry for Social Affairs and Citizenship (DoSAC), a government department barely registering on the Today Programme radar, but high-profile enough to receive the attentions of Malcolm Tucker, the government's director of communications, whose ferocity is only matched by his skill in delivering incredible, foul-mouthed tirades. Successive ministers (Hugh Abbott and Nicola Murray) and their backroom team lie, backstab and hopelessly bluff their way through gaffes, crises, Prime Ministerial resignations and possible election dates - only thankful that Shadow minister, Peter Mannion also has little idea what is going on... Irreverent, brilliantly sweary and painfully funny, this series smashes its way through the corridors of power in a bulldozer of hilarious farce and sharp satire. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: BAFTA Awards, ...The Thick of It - Complete Series 1-3 - 6-DVD Box Set ( The Thick of It - The Complete Boxed Set )
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
301 of 303 people found the following review helpful
By Sam Woodward
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:DVD
This boxset contains series 1-3 & The Specials. Series 4 is not included.
Let's get the confusing, boring bit over with first - series 1 & 2 consisted of only 3 episodes each, originally transmitted in May & October '05. As most BBC comedy series consist of 6 episodes, the BBC decided to confuse everyone by releasing them together as The Complete BBC Series 1 [2005], which is technically series 1 & 2. They then released The Specials (which were two one-hour long episodes transmitted one Christmas & New Year), followed by Series 3, which was 8 episodes. Because of this inconsistency, a lot of people naturally assumed series 2 hadn't been released on DVD when actually it had been. So if you already have the The Complete Series 1 [2005], The Specials & The Complete Series 3 DVD's, then you already have everything on this boxset. The only thing that isn't included is the movie tie-in which features the characters of Malcolm Tucker & his 'pitbull' Jamie (AKA "the crossest man in Scotland" who was "made in a lab by Malcolm out of spare bits of psychopath") but none of the other characters from the series (although it does include some of the actors in different roles, just to really confuse matters) Personally, I find it ironically appropriate that there has been such confusion surrounding this series due to unfortunate marketing & spin-doctoring ploys by the BBC...
So now the important part: The Thick Of It is superb. A modern Yes Minister for the New Labour generation, it follows the fictional Department Of Social Affairs & Citizenship as they incompetently bungle one government initiative after another & are ruthlessly savaged by the PM's spin doctor & enforcer Malcolm Tucker, who is more concerned with the governments' image than actually benefiting the nation. Unlike the conventional sitcom format of its predecessor, The Thick Of It features wobbly camerawork & no laugh-track to give it that 'real-life' feel, not to mention buckets of swearing & creative insults, thanks to creator Armando Iannucci apparently handing all scripts over to the BBC's 'swear consultant'.
The usually softly-spoken Peter Capaldi is brutally magnificent as the vitriolic Malcolm, who "thinks of himself as a thin, white Mugabe" & is considered by many pundits to be based on Blair's right-hand man Alastair Campbell. In Malcolm's own words, "don't you ever - EVER - call me a bully! I'm so much worse than that!" But he can't be all bad, since he believes in using the carrot as well as the stick - "you take a carrot, you stick it up his... followed by the stick, followed by an even bigger, rougher carrot."
Its interesting to see this programme evolve from a comedy show which centred around Chris Langham's character into more of an ensemble piece, to the point that following his real-life court-case, it survived his absence in the specials & his replacement in series 3. While Capaldi's Malcolm often steals the show, the ever-expanding supporting cast have well-rounded (albeit almost universally unlikeable) characters, who all have their moments to shine.
When I first watched this show, I found its frenetic pace & fast dialogue incredibly hard to keep up with but now I own it on DVD, I find this gives it much re-watchability - and re-watch it I have, countless times. That a lot of storylines have been taken from events you may remember from the news gives it additional spice. This satirical comedy has a unique charisma & doesn't tend to be out of my DVD player for long. My one criticism is they can't make new episodes quickly enough! Roll on series 4! Read more ›
Let's get the confusing, boring bit over with first - series 1 & 2 consisted of only 3 episodes each, originally transmitted in May & October '05. As most BBC comedy series consist of 6 episodes, the BBC decided to confuse everyone by releasing them together as The Complete BBC Series 1 [2005], which is technically series 1 & 2. They then released The Specials (which were two one-hour long episodes transmitted one Christmas & New Year), followed by Series 3, which was 8 episodes. Because of this inconsistency, a lot of people naturally assumed series 2 hadn't been released on DVD when actually it had been. So if you already have the The Complete Series 1 [2005], The Specials & The Complete Series 3 DVD's, then you already have everything on this boxset. The only thing that isn't included is the movie tie-in which features the characters of Malcolm Tucker & his 'pitbull' Jamie (AKA "the crossest man in Scotland" who was "made in a lab by Malcolm out of spare bits of psychopath") but none of the other characters from the series (although it does include some of the actors in different roles, just to really confuse matters) Personally, I find it ironically appropriate that there has been such confusion surrounding this series due to unfortunate marketing & spin-doctoring ploys by the BBC...
So now the important part: The Thick Of It is superb. A modern Yes Minister for the New Labour generation, it follows the fictional Department Of Social Affairs & Citizenship as they incompetently bungle one government initiative after another & are ruthlessly savaged by the PM's spin doctor & enforcer Malcolm Tucker, who is more concerned with the governments' image than actually benefiting the nation. Unlike the conventional sitcom format of its predecessor, The Thick Of It features wobbly camerawork & no laugh-track to give it that 'real-life' feel, not to mention buckets of swearing & creative insults, thanks to creator Armando Iannucci apparently handing all scripts over to the BBC's 'swear consultant'.
The usually softly-spoken Peter Capaldi is brutally magnificent as the vitriolic Malcolm, who "thinks of himself as a thin, white Mugabe" & is considered by many pundits to be based on Blair's right-hand man Alastair Campbell. In Malcolm's own words, "don't you ever - EVER - call me a bully! I'm so much worse than that!" But he can't be all bad, since he believes in using the carrot as well as the stick - "you take a carrot, you stick it up his... followed by the stick, followed by an even bigger, rougher carrot."
Its interesting to see this programme evolve from a comedy show which centred around Chris Langham's character into more of an ensemble piece, to the point that following his real-life court-case, it survived his absence in the specials & his replacement in series 3. While Capaldi's Malcolm often steals the show, the ever-expanding supporting cast have well-rounded (albeit almost universally unlikeable) characters, who all have their moments to shine.
When I first watched this show, I found its frenetic pace & fast dialogue incredibly hard to keep up with but now I own it on DVD, I find this gives it much re-watchability - and re-watch it I have, countless times. That a lot of storylines have been taken from events you may remember from the news gives it additional spice. This satirical comedy has a unique charisma & doesn't tend to be out of my DVD player for long. My one criticism is they can't make new episodes quickly enough! Roll on series 4! Read more ›
38 of 41 people found the following review helpful
By dram@urg
Format:DVD
THE THICK OF IT is everything television should be: smart, funny, and completely none-sparing. Having seen IN THE LOOP and finding it one of the clearest, if most brutal, statements on our joint madness in the Middle East (David Hare eat your heart out), I found Armando Iannucci's elder child on the Amazon site. Even though it was unavailable and completely unheard of over here in the US, I bought it sight-unseen. It was as good as, perhaps better than, the film. Peter Capaldi's Malcolm Tucker makes Machiavelli's Prince look like Tinky Winky. The supporting cast is uniformly brilliant; the episodes sustain their potency throughout the three series and two specials. The extras on the DVD collection provide terrific commentary and a wealth of deleted scenes that are better than anything we've got going over here by a wide, wide margin.
33 of 36 people found the following review helpful
By North Westie
Format:DVD
I bought this last weekend intending to spread out my viewing - I've watched all the episodes and most of the extras already because I was enjoying the series so much.
It was great to see series 1 (and 2) again as I hadn't seen the episodes for a while and I enjoyed listening to the commentaries -there seemed to be one for every episode for series 1 (and 2).
I have seen the specials and series 3 more recently but still enjoyed another viewing and seeing the "red button" extra scenes (for episodes 1- 4 of series 3) and the interviews with actors / writers / and political commentators and politicians (for episodes 5-8 of series 3). I found myself noticing things that I hadn't spotted the first or even second time around so it was certainly worth a repeat viewing.
It is particularly funny seeing the programmes so close to the election and as real life seems to be perilously close to mirroring the over the top antics in the series.
I just wish there were more episodes to watch and I hope we will be getting a series 4 in due course. Can't wait.
It was great to see series 1 (and 2) again as I hadn't seen the episodes for a while and I enjoyed listening to the commentaries -there seemed to be one for every episode for series 1 (and 2).
I have seen the specials and series 3 more recently but still enjoyed another viewing and seeing the "red button" extra scenes (for episodes 1- 4 of series 3) and the interviews with actors / writers / and political commentators and politicians (for episodes 5-8 of series 3). I found myself noticing things that I hadn't spotted the first or even second time around so it was certainly worth a repeat viewing.
It is particularly funny seeing the programmes so close to the election and as real life seems to be perilously close to mirroring the over the top antics in the series.
I just wish there were more episodes to watch and I hope we will be getting a series 4 in due course. Can't wait.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Mole
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
There has been a long tradition of satire in British comedy, particularly relating to politics; and this is some of the most bitingly vicious satire that you will come across. You can think of "Yes Minister" or "Yes Prime Minister" but with a lot of bad language. The programme came out at a time when politicians were getting a very rough time in the media, and for many reasons; there is a suggestion that "The Thick of it" was inspired by actual events and it is possible that it really is closer to the truth than they would prefer we know.
The character of Malcolm Tucker is truly obnoxious; Peter Capaldi is utterly superb and there are times when you can see the veins on his neck stand up as he really gets into the part. However, the other actors also play their various parts incredibly well, and the result is a show that has justifiably won many awards.
The boxed set contains all of the programmes broadcast, as well as the specials that were shown on the BBC "Red Button". The writers went out of their way to exclude any reference to which party was in power, and the specials showed some of the action from the "other side" but again without revealing which was which to maintain an even handedness as they lambast politicians of all stripes.
There are some bonus items which concentrate on how they achieved the look of the programme. I particularly enjoyed the section that showed them filming a scripted version, then the actors re-doing the scene but improvising as they felt appropriate. It was then possible for the editors to take the best from both sets of filming and this gives the programme a spontaneous feeling that enhances the "fly on the wall" approach.... Read more ›
The character of Malcolm Tucker is truly obnoxious; Peter Capaldi is utterly superb and there are times when you can see the veins on his neck stand up as he really gets into the part. However, the other actors also play their various parts incredibly well, and the result is a show that has justifiably won many awards.
The boxed set contains all of the programmes broadcast, as well as the specials that were shown on the BBC "Red Button". The writers went out of their way to exclude any reference to which party was in power, and the specials showed some of the action from the "other side" but again without revealing which was which to maintain an even handedness as they lambast politicians of all stripes.
There are some bonus items which concentrate on how they achieved the look of the programme. I particularly enjoyed the section that showed them filming a scripted version, then the actors re-doing the scene but improvising as they felt appropriate. It was then possible for the editors to take the best from both sets of filming and this gives the programme a spontaneous feeling that enhances the "fly on the wall" approach.... Read more ›
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4.3 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Quick delivery and well packed
Present for my Dad, he absolutely loves it and can't get enough of the whole series. I've not had the chance to watch it yet but he's been happy ever since so that's a good sign:)
Published 6 days ago by Nick Anderson
4.0 out of 5 stars
A worthy successor to "Yes Minister"
"Yes Minister" showed how the civil service ran rings around the politicians, always getting what they wanted. Read more
Published 11 days ago by Hugo Minney
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wrong way round
I actually watched this after watching the spin-off film 'In The Loop' but found it didn't make a difference either way. Season 4 is to be purchased soon!
Published 15 days ago by Allz
5.0 out of 5 stars
If only it had season 4 too!
Possibly the best British comedy to emerge in recent years. It only gets better as the series go on. Amazing.
Published 1 month ago by RCUK
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Present
Bought as a present for my Husband, who had never seen the series but heard good things about it. Great viewing!
Published 1 month ago by Louise Ford
5.0 out of 5 stars
Arrived quickly
The product arrived quickly and was exactly what I wanted the description was accurate. I would be happy to purchase from this company again
Published 1 month ago by Clarissa
3.0 out of 5 stars
unwieldy set
ITTOI is probably the smartest show - not just comedy - on telly. Who else would reference the Schlieffen Plan in passing, and not even bother to explain it? Read more
Published 1 month ago by gille liath
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very, very funny. And very good, but mostly very funny.
Just watch it. If you don't like it, go away and don't talk to me because we have nothing in common.
Published 2 months ago by Julian Gale
5.0 out of 5 stars
Armando you're a legend
Easily the best comedy series for years. I can watch this again and again and still find more new subtle ironies every time. LOVE IT
Published 2 months ago by Seth BS
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply wonderful
This is simply a genius series. I love every minute of watching this and would recommend to anyone with who can withstand some strong swearing!
Published 2 months ago by Graeme S
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