Just What Is Malcolm Tucker?

There are some obvious answers to that question. He's very funny, for a start. In a scary way. And he's a mix of Alastair Campbell and Damian McBride, although arguably more monstrous yet competent than either of those. And he is a stunning indictment of British politics in that such an outrageously vile character can be seen not just as believable, but an accepted (and, for some, essential) part of the British political process.

Yet how would we classify Tucker? It would take a strong heart to call him a hero; he treats people with utter contempt, has a mouth like an open sewer sweating in the summer sun and is clearly propping up an absolutely undeserving Labour government. Yet he's not really a villain either - in his own, utterly self-serving and unpleasant way, he is trying to help people. Plus The Thick of It (and In The Loop for that matter) really lacks anyone who could be called a hero. I guess at the end of the day Tucker is your archetypal anti-hero - you end up routing for him without really wanting to. Because, at the end of the day, he is the only character in the show who is in any way competent and shows anything even approaching a backbone.

Which is what makes The Thick of It - which sometimes comes across as a documentary about modern British politics - so terrifying. The most competent member of this fictional yet very real government is the glowering, perpetually irate and creatively profane Malcolm Tucker. And he is, at best, an anti-hero...