Armando Iannucci, who cut his creative teeth on such wondrous radio fare as the news lampoon On the Hour, revealed recently that the inspiration for creating his era-defining political satire The Thick of It, was the Iraq war. He was infuriated by what he saw as Prime Minister Tony Blair’s willingness to “twist the narrative” in order to justify his support for what many regarded as a woefully ill-thought-through conflict.
Leading the charge is Defending The Guilty a courtroom drama from Kieron Quirke (Cuckoo). Katherine Parkinson (Humans) plays Caroline, the cynical and experienced pupil master of Will (played by Flower's Will Sharpe), an idealistic pupil barrister. Will must navigate his way through the complexities of the justice system, to fight it out with several other hopeful contenders for a single job at the end of training. Expect cut-throat exploits and plenty of back-stabbing.
By many people's reckoning, Armando Iannucci is one of our greatest and funniest TV satirists. The political classes and the grammar and conceits of television have proved fertile ground for Iannucci's wit and his team of gifted collaborators, notably Steve Coogan, Rebecca Front and Chris Morris.
Will television eat itself? A flat screen might be easier to get down than a cathode-ray tube, and cause less indigestion – but, still, it doesn't really sound like a sensible diet.
All trades and professions are fascinated with themselves and like nothing more than talking endlessly about their own work. The TV industry is no different. In it's case, making telly about telly is proving increasingly irresistible.
We are all a bit too wised-up to dream about "the magic of television" any more. The schedules struggle to hold our attention.
