Episode #4.1 

Peter Mannion is now secretary of state for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship. Spin doctor Stewart Pearson, on PM's orders, instructs him to launch an education initiative, ... See full summary »

Director:

Natalie Bailey

Writers:

Will Smith, Simon Blackwell

Stars:

Roger Allam, Will Smith, Joanna Scanlan

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Roger Allam	...	Peter Mannion
Will Smith	...	Phil Smith
Joanna Scanlan	...	Terri Coverley
Ben Willbond	...	Adam Kenyon
Geoffrey Streatfeild	...	Fergus Williams
James Smith	...	Glenn Cullen
Vincent Franklin	...	Stewart Pearson
Olivia Poulet	...	Emma Messinger
Hamza Jeetooa	...	Raj
Jessica Henwick	...	Charlotte
Dave Florez	...	Teacher
Tom Andrews	...	Journalist 1
Adam Tandy	...	Journalist 2
Gareth Tunley	...	Journalist 3
Martha Cope	...	Journalist 4

Storyline

Peter Mannion is now secretary of state for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship. Spin doctor Stewart Pearson, on PM's orders, instructs him to launch an education initiative, to the annoyance of junior minister Fergus and the embittered Glenn. Glenn is supported by Terri, who is fed up and wants redundancy. Peter's brief is to launch an Apps initiative in a local school but the press conference shows him to be wholly out of touch with the subject. Ultimately he must reconcile with Fergus at a further press call to gain street cred - and just about does it.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Did You Know?

Trivia

In this episode, Roger Allam seemingly refers to his role as DI Fred Thursday in the ITV series Endeavour - the Morse prequel that was first broadcast in 2012, with some very subtle wordplay. In Endeavour, Roger Allam plays the Senior officer, to Morse the lower ranking officer, in exact parallel to Morse, where Morse is the Senior officer, and Lewis is the Junior. "He's Lewis. I'm Morse".

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Goofs

Peter Mannion's ministerial car is a 2012 Jaguar XJ, however for the interior shots a Mercedes E-Class is used, which has a noticeably different roofline shape and no little side windows behind the rear doors.

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Quotes

Peter Mannion: I'm bored of this. I'm going for a Twix.

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Connections

References West Side Story (1961)

User Reviews

The weak espisode of the Thick Of It

No Tucker, no humour or banter, mostly just a mockumentary with jokes falling short.

Details

Release Date:

8 September 2012 (UK)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min