Talk:List of The Thick of It characters

Nick Hanway
What's the basis for saying that Nick Hanway is a backbench MP? This is never mentioned in the show, and I can't find anything anywhere to support it. Ruudboy (talk) 23:27, 1 February 2024 (UTC)

Okay, nothing defending it so I'm taking it out. Ruudboy (talk) 13:14, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

The Cast need to be Switched Round for Series 4
Malcolm Tucker, Nicola Murray and Ollie Reeder are now part of the opposition. The Government now includes Peter Mannion and Fergus Williams as the DoSac guys. This will mean the whole article needs to be re-written to account for these changes. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.104.215.182 (talk) 22:41, 8 September 2012 (UTC)

'Based on'
I've removed several of the speculative sections detailing which real politicians these characters are based on. Other than Tucker/Campbell, which is frequently commented on, these seem to be original research (plausable though they are). Bob talk 07:21, 26 June 2010 (UTC)

Table
The current table format leaves a narrow strip of text running down the whole page, with an ocean of white space formed by columns 1, 2, 3 and 5. This makes the text unnecessarily cramped while huge areas of screen are unused.

Two alternatives to this would be (1) to remove the table format altogether and write it as prose, or (2) use a format where for each character there is a row of short tabular information above a whole-page-width text section (difficult to describe, but used for many episode lists - eg Cabin_Pressure_(radio_series)).

(Oh, and why are the govt., the civil service and the opposition prefixed with 'Her Majesty's'? - it isn't really necessary and it's not as if they are uniformly referred to this way in the series.)

Any thoughts? Squiddy | (squirt ink?)  22:03, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

I like the second alternative - will be a far better use of the space. Would prefer to see it kept in a table rather than prose.

As for "Her Majesty's"... technically, I suppose they're the full titles, but I can't remember if they've ever been referred to as such in the show. Skarloey (talk) 22:48, 12 January 2012 (UTC)


 * I've made a start, but saved it in my user space until it's finished - User:Squiddy/ThickCharacters‎. See what you think.


 * It's taken longer than I thought because I don't understand templates very well, but I'll carry on next week (subject to comments here). Squiddy | (squirt ink?)  17:07, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Looks good to me! Skarloey (talk) 18:28, 14 January 2012 (UTC)


 * OK, that's done. I've given the different sections shorter and less elaborate titles, too. Some stuff still needs doing - the list order of characters seems to be based on their prominence in the programs, but there are some anomalies (eg Julius, Lord Nicholson is below less prominent characters). I might do some re-ordering.
 * Also, there is some speculation about which real-world figures the characters are based on. While a lot of this is plausible, it should be sourced to some external publication, not an editors WP:OR, else removed. Squiddy | (squirt ink?)  14:01, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

mc vs mac
At jamies facebook page, his name is spelled Jamie McDonald not Jamie MacDonald94.145.236.194 (talk) 10:24, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

'Based on...' again
I've removed the parts where the fictional characters are claimed to be based on real politicians. The most obvious, Tucker based on Alasdair Campbell, is denied by Capaldi in an interview here. The rest were weasel-worded ('some think...') or obvious OR ('probably...').

Any of this should be sourced if anyone wants to put it back, otherwise it fails WP:NOR. Since the comparisons are to real living people, there may be WP:BLP concerns too. Squiddy | (squirt ink?)  10:10, 10 June 2012 (UTC)

Section titles
The recent changes don't work for me. Just swapping over the characters in the Opposition and Government sections doesn't make sense - for example, Abbott is now in the opposition section despite never appearing in the program as anything other than a govt. minister. Characters like Tucker have been in Govt for 3 series out of 4, so it doesn't feel right to have him in the opposition section either.

There is a problem in that the parties are never named (AFAIR), and it would be OR to describe them using the names of the real parties they are pretty obviously based on.

We need to think of a better solution than the current situation, and while we do, I think the article should reflect the 3 series that have been broadcast rather than the one just starting.

I've reverted, please discuss. Squiddy | (squirt ink?)  16:55, 7 September 2012 (UTC)
 * Hmm, there are a few options I can think of, none of which are particularly satisfying:
 * 1. My prefered option would be to rename this list to List of The Thick of It characters (series 1-3) and then create a new list. However, this could look a bit like a content fork.
 * 2. Update to reflect the latest series and place the earlier characters such as Hugh Abbot in the "former characters" section. I'm a little reluctant to do this as alongside Tucker he was really the main focus of series 1+2.
 * 3. Have an alphabetical list of characters which doesn't take in to account their affiliation.
 * Bob talk 19:42, 7 September 2012 (UTC)


 * Interesting points, all very valid. Perhaps if the sections were divided up into "politicians", "party communications", "SpAds", "civil service", "media" instead? Hadn't considered the issue of people like Hugh, who we only ever saw in-government. It would also be nice to expand the "unseen characters" section - "Fat Pat" and "Fatty", anyone? Agree that it would be ideal to keep all characters in a single list, as there would be quite a bit of duplication over the two lists - especially as it seems that Series 4 could well be the last (barring potential future specials).
 * A little niggling thing, does anyone know how to get rid of that redundant first (empty) column in each of the info boxes? I tried (and failed) earlier. Skarloey (talk) 22:34, 7 September 2012 (UTC)


 * I think Bob's option 3 would be best. I can't think of a sensible way of keeping the current division into govt and opposition now that they've swapped over. How about an alphabetic-by-surname list, divided into major and minor characters? I think I'd prefer that, but another alternative would be to merge the Opposition and Govt sections into Politicians (although eg. Ollie Reeder isn't exactly a politician)
 * I don't particularly like the idea of a list for series 1-3 and another one for series 4. There would be a lot of duplication and it seems a clumsy way to get round the problem of finding a neat division of the characters.
 * And that empty column has bothered me, too. I tried to get rid of it and couldn't work out how to either. Squiddy | (squirt ink?)  08:44, 8 September 2012 (UTC)
 * I agree that a different way of categorising characters would be clearer. In addition to the example of Abbott being listed in the opposition section, we now have Glenn Cullen in the coalition camp, when he was previously in the preceding government. Also there's Adam Kenyon who's listed in the coalition section, having previously been in the media in 'Spinners and Losers'. Julianhall (talk) 09:57, 25 February 2013 (UTC)

Named included with no context
The current article states 'This act of hubris proves his undoing, however, when the Inquiry panel produces an enlarged copy of the complete photo showing him in possession of Douglas Tickel's NHS and NI numbers.' However, the article does not say who Mr Tickel is first. The name isn't as important as the explanation as to why this is wrong. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.157.176.5 (talk) 18:54, 25 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I agree - I've trimmed out a lot of the extraneous detail in Tucker's section. Originally, this was just a character summary article, but it looks like it's ended up offering too much plot narrative about series 4 and what happens, but not a lot about the earlier series. I guess I'll have to have a look over it at some point. Bob talk 15:47, 28 May 2013 (UTC)