In The Loop
is effectively the film version of BBC4's The Thick Of It, a fantastic semi-improvised comedy directed and
co-written by one of the best and most consistent in the business in the UK today, Armando Iannucci.
As the film begins, Radio 4's Eddie Mair talks Minister for International Development, Simon Foster (Tom Hollander), who was only
there to talk about preventable diseases, into a discussion on plans for a US invasion of the Middle East, as if that
would happen? ;)
Simon says he thinks the war is unforseeable, which leads to Malcolm to say out loud to himself, "No, you do not
think that", then calling up Radio 4 and telling them that Simon didn't actually say that... and that while they
may have heard it, he didn't actually say it. He'll also have to go on Question Time and backtrack on the issue.
Yes, Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) is in full effect, and Simon is going to find those words coming back to haunt him several times.
For those new to the series, Malcolm is the Director of Communications for No.10, aka the No.10 Enforcer/spin doctor.
He makes decisions on behalf of the Prime Minister, or at least for as long as he can get away with it.
Judy Molloy (Gina McKee) works alongside Foster as the Director of Communications for International Development,
while Toby Wright (Chris Addison, right with Capaldi) is also brought in to work with the aforementioned MP.
In the US, the key characters are Karen Clark (Mimi Kennedy), US Assistant Secretary for Diplomacy;
Liza Weld (Anna Chlumsky), one of her aides, who knows Toby from University, intimately; Linton Barwick (Sledge
Hammer's David Rasche) who has formed a secret War committee but has changed the name so no-one finds out
about it... for a while; and Lt General George Miller (James Gandolfini, below-right with Mimi Kennedy), Senior Military Assistant in the
Pentagon who has seen action in war in the past and says it's not somewhere you want to go again... "like France".
The cast is rounded off with Jamie MacDonald (Paul Higgins), who works under Malcolm; Paul Michaelson (Steve
Coogan, bottom-right with Joanna Scanlan as Roz) as a member of the public in Foster's constituency who's having a problem with a wall at his Mum's house
which is on the verge of collapsing into her garden and crushing her greenhouse - the issue being that the wall *belongs*
to Foster; and Michael Rodgers (James Smith), Director of Diplomacy, who plays his classical music far too loud for
everyone. Smith's character also worked alongside Chris Langham who appeared in the original series of six episodes
which were split into two lots of three, due to how they were made.
Obviously Chris Langham is no longer 'in the loop' as he wasn't in the two specials that followed the original six
episodes, due to his conviction. While I wouldn't make excuses for him obviously, he bared his soul on Shrink Rap
with Pamela Stephenson and was clearly regretful for what he'd done. He hadn't killed anyone, yet he's persona non
grata to the BBC. That didn't stop them hiring Leslie Grantham for Eastenders after he'd killed a taxi driver.
But I digress.
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