The Thick of It coincidentally ended up occurring only two days after Peter Capaldi was announced as the new star of "Doctor Who". (Even more coincidental, a cast commentary included as part of a photo gallery featurette for the episode "Rise of the Nutters" included in the DVD set, recorded several years earlier, has several cast members jokingly deciding to start a rumour that Capaldi is to be the next Doctor.) "The Thick of It: The Scripts", a book containing the scripts from the first two series and the 2007 specials, was published on 1 September 2007. A tie-in book, "The Thick Of It:
Malcolm Tucker message to fans. This has so far been the last appearance of the character. Armando Iannucci stated in 2012 that series 4 would most likely be "The Thick of It"'s last, but could return for a few specials or something in the future. Following Capaldi's casting as the Doctor in Doctor Who, Iannucci revealed that the show is definitely over for good. He joked that he has no plans for Tucker to appear in "Veep" as Tucker is either dead or in prison. However, following Iannucci's exit from the show in 2015 and Capaldi revealing he was set to direct