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| “ | You are not a grandee, you're a f***ing blandee, and no one knew what the f**k you stood for. Political f***ing mist; no substance, no weight. You've got all the charm of a rotting teddy bear by a graveside. By the way... women f***ing hate you. I can show you the polling; they think you come across like a jittery mother at a wedding. The best thing you ever did in your flatlining non-leadership was call for an inquiry because that will f**k the government and it will f**k you. So now please, just f**k off back to your home, you headless frump, and prepare for you column in Grazia. | „ |
| ~ Malcolm Tucker destroying Nicola Murray. |
Malcolm Tucker is the main antagonist of the BBC political black comedy show The Thick of It and the protagonist of its film spin-off In the Loop. A supporting character in the first two series, he takes a more prominent role from the 2007 Specials onwards.
Tucker serves as the spin doctor and political enforcer for the Prime Minister of Great Britain, and is known as one of the most feared political fixers in the business. His position in the British government is communications director.
He was portrayed by Peter Capaldi, who also played Cameron Walker in Black Mirror, Angel Islington in Neverwhere, Ronnie Pilfrey in Fortysomething, Cardinal Richelieu in The Musketeers, The Thinker in The Suicide Squad and Judge Claude Frollo in the upcoming 2025 live action remake of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.
Description[]
Malcolm has silvery-blue eyes with light brown (later gray) hair and speaks with a Scottish accent. Throughout the series, he is almost always wearing a black suit, though sometimes, he wears a white fleece.
Personality[]
Malcolm is incredibly irritable, cantankerous, short-tempered, and vituperative, frequently exasperated when the members of DOSaC constantly make mistakes that he subsequently has to fix, as well as spewing threats and insults to anyone who has angered him. He acts as the Prime Minister's enforcer, ensuring that all cabinet ministers follow the party line.
Despite his argumentative and obnoxious nature, Malcolm is shown to be more capable of long term thinking than the other characters in the series, and while Hugh Abbot describes his scheming as borderline Machiavellian, his plans are more often than not aimed at a common good; otherwise friendly characters, such as Ollie Reader, are shown to be more overconfident, self-serving, and egotistical by comparison. At the same time, Malcolm is implied to be a self-made man with humble origins, and always addresses anyone other characters would deem as socially inferior in a gentlemanly and empathetic manner devoid of condescension. In comparison, other characters tend to act obnoxious and patronizing towards people of the general public. While his party panders to the wealthy, he often displayed contempt for those born into wealth, perhaps reflective of the resentment of the effort he had to exert to achieve even one tenth of what they had from the start, although also due to observations of coddled rich people lacking insight and inadvertently antagonising the public through a careless remark, which makes Malcolm's job harder than it already was.
In Season 4, during a self-deprecating rant, Malcolm explicitly states that he has no children, or any real friends for that matter. When Ollie Reeder takes over as Director of Communications in the final episode, Malcolm tells him that the job will 'f***ing kill [him]' and gives him 18 months before he is 'a washed up, weeping alcoholic, with no f***ing bladder control, sleeping on [his] brother-in-law's sofa'. Malcolm makes it very clear just how stressful his position is to Ollie, declaring that 'I take this job home, it f***ing ties me to the bed, and it f***ing f**ks me from arsehole to breakfast! Then it wakes me up in the morning with a cup full of piss slung in my face, slaps me about the chops, to make sure I'm awake enough so it can kick me in the f***ing b***ocks! This job has taken me in every hole in my f***ing body!'
The only person Malcolm ever expresses any genuine affection for is Sam, his secretary, even going so far as protect her from men clearing out his office, as well as comfort her. Sam is consequently the only person to view him in a positive light. Additionally, Malcolm displays a level of sympathy and respect for Glenn Cullen, primarily due to his misfortunes and for possessing more common sense than the other members of DOSaC. However, any and all respect Malcolm had for Glenn is evaporated when Glenn defects prior to season 4, with Malcolm denouncing him as a traitor when he attempts to rejoin his old party. Malcolm is also less harsh towards Terri, as while he often mocked her, his attacks are generally less personal, and when once she confronted him for his attitude, instead of deriding her, he had a moment of vulnerability as he discussed the pressure he faced, which made them friends of sorts, or at least friendly acquaintances.
Malcolm can deliver long degrading monologues that use imaginative and vulgar imagery, hyperbolic threats, homophobia, body-shaming, implications of promiscuity, pop culture references, blackmail, irony, accusations of low intelligence, and insults based upon personal information he knows. While he is typically dismissive of any protest, if a recipient gets so hurt that they break down crying, he halts mid-rant, and attempts to improve their self-esteem; while his skills at emotional support are lacking, he does try to ease pain he caused when he feels he passed a limit, therefore showing that despite his ruthless tirades, he doesn't intend to be malicious, at least when the listener is a colleague of some sort. Also, despite his common use of slurs, he doesn't hold any prejudicial bias against any subgroup, rather he uses the insults that he knows would cut deepest.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Since it is a British staple, Doctor Who is sometimes mentioned, which is amusing since Peter Capaldi would later have a minor role in The Fires of Pompeii episode, and later portray the Twelfth Doctor.
- It is implied that Malcolm hadn't seen a movie since the 1980's, as he once referenced Star Wars yet didn't remember any of the character names. He does, however, watch television, as he makes references covering multiple decades.