The Thick of It Cabinet Office. This concept enables different political themes to be dealt with in the programme, similar to the Department of Administrative Affairs in "Yes Minister". Hugh Abbot, played by Chris Langham, is a blundering minister heading the department, who is continually trying to do his job under the watchful eye of Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), Number 10's highly aggressive and domineering "enforcer". The programme also features James Smith as senior special adviser Glenn Cullen, Chris Addison as junior policy adviser Ollie Reeder, and Joanna Scanlan as civil service press secretary Terri Coverley. The series was revamped for the third series
Malcolm Tucker the trouble posed by the Opposition having a Malcolm-esque spin doctor during such time. Steve Fleming, while not as feared as Malcolm (mostly due to the fact that, unlike Tucker, he seldom swears), is nonetheless infamous throughout the party for his obsequious, unctuous personality (which is once described by Ollie Reeder as "Obsessive Repulsive Disorder"). He is shown to frequently lose his temper and lash out when faced with any opposition from his co-workers, implying he is mentally unbalanced. Tucker and Fleming harbour a mutual hatred, going back to when the former forced the latter to resign in 2003 (Tucker's