Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
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I was watching some clips from the Thick of It and it seemed slightly… off. The broad plot points and the characters seemed realistic enough but the overt and graphic threats, and the fucky fucky speaking style seemed to be very much written to pander to the audience rather than to be realistic.
(Who would be caught dead saying something like ‘fuck you very much’? It makes you sound like a five year old.)
I know some of us have experience in this environment (e.g. @SSCReader). What do you think? Which bits basically ring true and which bits don’t? Is TToI just outdated?
I have some experience but it’s all student politics on the one hand and dealing with civil service type people and procurement on the other hand.
The Thick of It is like The Office (US version) in that it’s an idealized version of a ‘fun’ office as imagined by people from that particular culture. Leaving aside that even in the mid Blair era I doubt most of that kind of banter was tolerated all the time even from Alistair Campbell types (let alone random civil servants) there is an authenticity to it.
I would say that working in an office full of well-educated English people who like banter, at its best on Friday afternoons when everyone is comfortable with each other, has had a couple of drinks at lunch and is joking around then sure, it feels a bit like The Thick of It (at least to my foreign ears).
In the same way, Americans and some other Anglos identified with the kind of camaraderie and humor in the US Office because they experienced a lesser version of it, sometimes, themselves. The Thick of It lacks the maudlin sentimentality of most US sitcoms but a similar principle applies.
The swearing in particular seems like a remnant of the TV culture of that time, ‘The F Word’, Gordon Ramsey swearing, the growth of satellite TV without watershed, established networks being willing to have more swearing on later in the evening. This was, after all, when Little Britain was airing on BBC One. In addition, the main character is based on a notorious fan of profanity even today.
More interesting for the TV connoisseur is Veep, which while a less funny show highlights the subtle cultural differences between Britain and America by having American actors and characters speak dialogue clearly written by Brits and therefore always a little uncanny to American ears.
Succession (by much the same team) has a similar problem but skirts it by making the main cast half-English.
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