In an interview Nicola makes it sound like Tom may be the "right man" for the job, but maybe she is "the right woman", starting a hide-and-seek game with the media. Now she's stuck on her ow... Read allIn an interview Nicola makes it sound like Tom may be the "right man" for the job, but maybe she is "the right woman", starting a hide-and-seek game with the media. Now she's stuck on her own floor with her team, Ben Swain and Tucker.In an interview Nicola makes it sound like Tom may be the "right man" for the job, but maybe she is "the right woman", starting a hide-and-seek game with the media. Now she's stuck on her own floor with her team, Ben Swain and Tucker.
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Malcolm Tucker: [responding to Terri's accusations of being wrong] How fucking dare you? Have you any idea of the amount of pressure that has been exerted on my skull, huh? It feels like my brain has been fucking emptied into little packets, into fucking crisp packets. Cheese and onion fucking crisp packets that contain my living, breathing fucking brain.
Terri Coverley: Malcolm, I'm really sorry. I...
Malcolm Tucker: And these crisp packets, cheese and onion, smoky bacon, have been stomped on. They've been fucking stomped on! Ben, fucking Nicola...
Terri Coverley: I didn't mean to be horrid.
Malcolm Tucker: And fucking you!
Terri Coverley: I'm sorry.
Malcolm Tucker: I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Terri Coverley: I'm sorry.
Malcolm Tucker: No, I'm over it, okay? Don't you apologise. Don't you fucking apologise. You don't need to apologise. I love this place. I do. I mean, fucking, compared to Number 10, this place is fucking tranquil, yeah? Over there, 300 yards down the road, I mean, it's like a fucking cancer ward. I mean, there are people in there, they're fucking screaming at each other. They are screaming, "You gave me this fucking disease." "You gave me this fucking disease." And every corner that I turn there's another threat, Terri. Hacks, hacks, fucking vampire hacks. And they're slaughtering us, Terri. They are fucking slaughtering us and they want my face for a flannel! And you know what? I used to be the fucking pharaoh, Terri. I used to be the fucking pharaoh. Now I'm fucking floundering in a fucking Nile of shit. But I am going to fashion a paddle out of that shit. Yeah?
Terri Coverley: Good idea.
Malcolm Tucker: I'm not going down. I am not going down. Yeah?
Terri Coverley: Yeah.
Malcolm Tucker: How are you feeling about things?
Terri Coverley: Well, you know, I'm just trying to do my best and, you know, make sure I can still get home by 6:00. Do you want a huggle?
Malcolm Tucker: No, I think... That's nice of you. I really appreciate it. Terri, it's been nice to have a chat but I have to get on. Let's get back on track.
Oliver Reeder: [after Tukcer leaves] What did he say?
Terri Coverley: I don't know. It was all about ancient Egypt.
- ConnectionsReferences Dad's Army (1968)
The interviewer goes on to suggests that the PM is a lame duck and a liability to the party. Nicola stumbles over the question suggesting that the PM is the "best man for the job" before changing it to the "best person", although she also confesses to wanting to see a female leader "at some point".
Meanwhile the PM is on a world tour, which suggests to some of Nicola's staffers that he might be stepping down. This doesn't bode well for the DoSAC department as it is feared Nicola will lose her job in a re-shuffle and the likes of Olly Reader and Glen Cullen (her senior advisors) could also be seeing the door marked "exit"
Cullen, in fact, is already making plans to stand for government as an MP if he can get sufficient support from party members and Murray herself.
Director of Communications, Malcolm Tucker arrives at the DoSAC department frustrated and angered at the circus going on in the PM's absence at No. 10, suggesting that the PM may well step down very soon.
Just to compound both Nicola's incompetence and Tucker's frustration, the BBC interview is broadcast suggesting that a new leadership bid could happen and that Nicola has put her name forward.
Nicola tries to put the record straight but instead of saying the "PM is the right man OF the moment" she bleats "right man FOR the moment", which drives the media into a frenzy and Tucker into a fireball of anger.
A well focused episode demonstrating the subtleties of how to deal with the media. A word out of context or a sentence provoking a double meaning can have dire repercussions for the minister, the Department and the Government as a whole. This is particularly apposite for Glen Cullen, who has seen his chances of winning party support to stand as a MP shatter because he is closely associated with the clueless Murray.
It also demonstrates once again how inept Murray (played by Rebecca Front) is at her job. But then again her predecessor, Hugh Abbott, was equally out of his depth leading the Department.
You also have to feel just a smidge sympathetic for the volatile Tucker (played brilliantly by Peter Capaldi) as he tries to keep all the spinning plates from crashing into a million pieces. But his venting and bullying appear to be having the opposite affect on his staff as more and more mistakes begin to emerge.
Perhaps Tucker himself might find himself out in the wilderness as being part of the problem than a solution!
- Sonatine97
- Jul 24, 2022
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- Runtime31 minutes
- Color