Armando Iannucci at the Festival of Politics in Edinburgh

26 August, 2006
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Armando Iannucci with Peter MacMahon of the Scotsman

Day three of the Festival of Politics saw acclaimed satirist and writer Armando Iannucci in conversation with Peter MacMahon of the Scotsman.

Armando Iannucci's credits include the award-winning BBC comedy The Thick of It, which follows the career of a Minister continually harassed by a Number 10 'spin doctor' played by Peter Capaldi.

This page features some interview highlights. The full interview can be watched online at www.holyrood.tv along with other headline events from this year's festival.

On the influence Scotland has on his work:

Armando Iannucci: I was a big fan of Stanley Baxter, Chic Murray, Rikki Fulton, Arnold Brown, he's still going strong, and Billy Connolly. And I think what they all have really is a predilection for the absurd and for words, they muck about with words in a way that I don't think you get in English humour very much.

I remember someone like Chick Murray saying: "I walked into a bar the other day, got a sore head so I walked out of it again." Just that kind of strange absurdity with words which I like. As I grew up I was actually very much a radio comedy fan, so I listened a lot to comedy on Radio 4. things like The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy and The News Quiz.

It was very bizarre when I first became a radio producer to end up producing these shows like News Quiz and so on that I listened to as a kid. That was a strange and disturbing experience!

On the fact that The Thick of It's bullying spin doctor is a Scot:

Yes that was entirely an accident really, and there were all sorts of conspiracy theories in papers like the Telegraph talking about the Scottish Mafia having taken over English politics. Someone else thought that I chose Peter Capaldi as a sort of alter ego for me. That wasn't the case.

We had invented this character Malcolm Tucker. In the casting process, the casting director said, you must meet up with Peter Capaldi he'd be absolutely perfect for it. He came in, and the way we cast it is that I invent a scenario and get them to improvise with me.

I asked Peter to be the spin doctor coming in to tell me that there has been a lot of speculation in the press of me resigning, they have every confidence in me but if I didn't go they would look weak so I ought to go.

So I said to him come in be very nice, be very pleasant, but half way through it just make it clear that if I didn't resign I would end up at the bottom of a river, metaphorically.

When asked about the inspiration for the series:

I was a great fan of Yes, Minister. I was a bit of a political junkie, not politically active but I loved the whole process of watching politics and how politics worked, and Yes, Minister was one of my favourites.

It really started when I did a programme for BBC2... they asked me to do a documentary about Yes, Minister.

One of the little perks of doing that was I got sent all the editions of Yes, Minister and I sat down and watched them all. this was amazing writing, amazing acting. there are still great universal truths in it.

In terms of how it portrays Westminster now, it just felt it could do with a slight update, because Yes, Minister was all about the relationship between a minister with his senior civil servant - one trying to stop the other from getting one over on the other.

Nowadays it is my belief that the real power relationship is between the minister, the advisor. and his relationship with the media - but also the fact that Number 10 had much more influence over them than the past.

I had discreet lunches with former advisors, political journalists, party workers. I stopped having these lunches as the more I chatted with them the more their stories confirmed each other's, and the more obvious and apparent that network became.

I had some ministers say: "You know that scene where they make up the policy in the back of a car? I've been in the back of that car!".

Is satire perceived as left-wing?

If you seek to exaggerate or to criticise authority that will always be perceived as a left-wing attitude. I mean I don't regard myself as left-wing, I tend to think of me being a bit woolly, moving around in the middle, not quite sure...

It's not a right-wing thing to do to criticise the establishment. When people at school are mischievous, you don't regard them as left-wing really, you regard them as mischievous!

On the current state of politics:

Politicians are generally saying less and less. Now the general elections are more of a vote on what they have done, rather than looking to the future. People feel shut out of the conversation.

It has always been my experience that people are dying to engage with politicians. They are more and more afraid of saying anything, as if they say something then they are a hostage to fortune.

On the Scottish Parliament:

What I love about the Scottish Parliament is the fact that the public can be trusted to walk around the building and see how government works. People would stop becoming disengaged from politics if this happened a lot more. I think this is something Westminster could benefit from, as the building lies empty for about six months of the year during recess.

And would he come back?

Absolutely. I would happily come back to the Festival of Politics, it was a fantastic experience.

The full event with Armando is now online

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The Festival of Politics 2006 Partners are:
Standard Life; BAA Scotland; and ScottishPower.