The Thick Of It Vs. VEEP

OU812

Got the entire series today and just watched the first. Love it & can see the crossover similarities with VEEP (which is my favourite show).

Is VEEP a total remake or do the situations change (ie have I seen this show before)?

Also who's who, the Hugh is Selina, obviously, & I think I know Ollie is Dan, , but who is everyone else?

Or should I forget about VEEP & just take this one at face value?

bnt

Not a remake as such, since all the characters and scripts are new, but a lot of the same development and improv methods went in to Veep. Armando brought some of his people over too e.g. nine Veep episodes were directed by Chris Addison, including Election Night.

Veep has more emphasis on continuity of characters: as well as the Veep herself, we've been following Amy & Dan for four series now. Compare that to The Thick of It, where the PM was never seen at all, whole governments came and went, and only Malcolm Tucker lived through it all.

So Veep had to get the casting right, and I think they did. I was hooked as soon as Amy delivered lines like "I'm in a room with three people and a f**kload of quiche". :pac:

Penn

They are surprisingly different shows though. I found Veep to be very Americanised, particularly in Tony Hale's character. It's like they wanted to retain all the great dialogue and situations from The Thick of It, but had to introduce a pure idiot character too.

That being said, they're both excellent shows in their own right and if you like one, you'll almost certainly like the other.

OU812

Thanks guys. As I said, VEEP is my favourite show (can't believe there's a full six months to the next season). Kept meaning to watch Thick Of It, but never got around to it as I don't really like Capaldi (although he's warming on me).

Watched the first one last night & I'm hooked. Have to now set aside time every day to blast through them.

I just wanted to know was hit a straight conversion or "based upon". Although I have to say the situations are remarkably similar & the first characters I've seen such as Ollie/Dan, very alike in manner.

bnt

If I look at the history of Veep, the producers seem to have learned valuable lessons from a failed attempt to make an American version of The Thick Of It. There's no equivalent to Malcolm Tucker in Veep, for example, and I think the characters are more rounded. More generally, The Thick Of It had an emphasis on dealing with the press, spinning the "message", and a concern with appearances rather than substance.