Armando Iannucci to get in thick of American political satire

HE SKEWERED the British political establishment with his unflinching political satire and with the foul-mouth spin doctor Malcolm Tucker created an iconic comic character to match Basil Fawlty or Captain Mainwaring.

But Scots comedy writer and director Armando Iannucci has now turned his sights on the US political scene with a US version of his hit BBC comedy The Thick of It.

Called Veep it focuses on the travails of a "Palin-esque" vice-president, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who played Elaine in hit-Nineties sitcom Seinfeld.

It follows her character Selina Meyer move from being US senator to being the first woman vice-president, but in doing so finds the job is "nothing like she expected and everything everyone ever warned about".

The writer, whose CV includes The Day Today, I'm Alan Partridge and Charm Offensive, has already experienced Stateside success with his multi-award winning film In the Loop, a satire on US-UK state relations in which actor Peter Capaldi reprised his part as Tucker, receiving an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay.

Iannucci is currently in the US working on a pilot for the show which will go out on the HBO channel - home to such groundbreaking hit shows as The Sopranos and The Wire.

He said of the show: "The tone is like we did in the US State department in In The Loop - so it's not a spin-off but a cousin of The Thick Of It."