Malcolm Tucker

Malcolm Tucker
The Thick of It character
First appearance	Series 1, episode 1
Last appearance	Series 4, episode 7
Created by	Armando Ianucci
Portrayed by	Peter Capaldi
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Director of Communications
Nationality	British

Malcolm Tucker is the protagonist/antihero of the BBC political satire, The Thick of It, and is portrayed by Peter Capaldi. His role is Director of Communications for the Government of the United Kingdom. Tucker was originally a secondary character, with Chris Langham's Hugh Abbott as the protagonist being watched over by Tucker, but after Langham was fired from the series the show focused more on the character of Tucker and his dealings with the inept Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship (DoSaC), originally the Department of Social Affairs (DSA) in series 1 and 2. He is one of four characters from the series to appear in the film In the Loop.

Other than the very obvious fact that he is Scottish and the character traits he exhibits during the series, little is known about Malcolm Tucker's background or personal life.

The nature of Tucker's home life is ambiguous and is somewhat contradictory through the course of the series - in the special episode Spinners and Losers he is revealed to have a niece; during a rant in front of Ollie in series 4, and speaking of himself in third person, he explicitly states that he has no children (nor friends for that matter), and in series 3 he is shown spending his 50th birthday alone in his office. However, at other times, there are hints that he has a family - he wears a ring on his wedding finger, (although this should be attributed to Capaldi's insistence on wearing his wedding ring) there are children's drawings on the walls of his office (which could be his niece's), and when being pursued by photographers after his forced resignation, a young boy is briefly seen looking out of the window of Tucker's home (though he could be Tucker's nephew). His character profile on The British Comedy Guide says that he has split up from his partner. The reasons for his deep personal animosity towards journalist Simon Hewitt, mostly left open to speculation in the final cut, are explained to Ollie by Terri in one of the deleted scenes: Hewitt's current girlfriend, BBC health correspondent Kelly Grogan, had been Malcolm's girlfriend until about three months earlier.

Before the start of the series he forced his predecessor Steve Fleming (David Haig) to resign by announcing to the press that he was resigning before even informing him, thereby leaving him no choice. No mention is made of his professional background before taking the position as Director of Communications for Number 10.

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Wikipedia