---
name: "Armando Iannucci"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/armando-iannucci"
fi1m_id: "armando-iannucci"
imdb_id: "nm0406334"
tmdb_id: 88926
wikidata_id: "Q646929"
roles: ["Writer","Producer","Director"]
born: "28 November 1963"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 9
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-10-07T18:00:26.088457+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Armando Iannucci

## Identity

Armando Iannucci

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/armando-iannucci
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** armando-iannucci
- **IMDb ID:** nm0406334
- **TMDB ID:** 88926
- **Wikidata ID:** Q646929
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armando_Iannucci, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q646929, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0406334/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/88926

Writer and producer. Born 28 November 1963 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer, Producer, Director
- **Born:** 28 November 1963, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
- **Active:** 1994–present
- **Also known as:** 아르만도 이아누치
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 9: 1 acting, 6 directing, 1 writing, 1 producing
- **Frequently works with:** [Steve Coogan](https://film.one/person/steve-coogan.md), [Adam Tandy](https://film.one/person/adam-tandy.md), [Simon Blackwell](https://film.one/person/simon-blackwell.md), [Chris Addison](https://film.one/person/chris-addison.md), [Ian Martin](https://film.one/person/ian-martin.md), [Jesse Armstrong](https://film.one/person/jesse-armstrong.md), [Kevin Loader](https://film.one/person/kevin-loader.md), [Peter Baynham](https://film.one/person/peter-baynham.md)
- **Primetime Emmy Awards:** 1 Emmy (1 won)
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 85 (3), 2000s 93 (2), 2010s 82 (4)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armando_Iannucci, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q646929, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0406334/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/88926

## Streaming the US now

- **Apple TV:** [*The Thick of It*](https://film.one/tv/the-thick-of-it.md) (94), [*In the Loop*](https://film.one/film/in-the-loop.md) (92)
- **AMC+:** [*The Death of Stalin*](https://film.one/film/the-death-of-stalin.md) (83)
- **HBO Max:** [*Veep*](https://film.one/tv/veep.md) (82)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Armando Iannucci

> Armando Iannucci films power as a room of frightened people being shouted at, and he has kept it funny for twenty years. His best work is British and small; when the volume goes up, in *Veep* and *The Death of Stalin*, the people start to shrink.

Somewhere in nearly everything Armando Iannucci has made, a man in a suit is standing in a corridor being told what he thinks by somebody louder. He does not argue. He looks for the exit, finds a third person standing in it, and agrees with both of them. That is the basic Iannucci scene, filmed over and over, with a camera that looks as though it wandered in from a documentary and a script that sounds as though nobody wrote it. Somebody did.

He began in radio, with *On the Hour* (1991), which became *The Day Today* (1994) and produced Alan Partridge, whom Steve Coogan played in *Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge* (1994), written with Patrick Marber, and *I'm Alan Partridge* (1997). That was comedy of embarrassment: one fool, one format, an audience that knows how a presenter ought to behave. The turn came with *The Thick of It* (2005), which moved the fool into government and gave him a minder. It is still the best thing he has made. *In the Loop* (2009) took the same offices to Washington and towards a war, and *Veep* (2012) stayed there for seven seasons, though Iannucci left after the fourth. Since then: *The Death of Stalin* (2017), *The Personal History of David Copperfield* (2019) and the series *Avenue 5* (2020).

What works is the ensemble, on screen and on the page. Simon Blackwell, Jesse Armstrong, Tony Roche and Ian Martin gave the insults a job: each one changes who in the scene can speak with confidence. Peter Capaldi's Malcolm Tucker is the clearest case, the one fixed point in a building of people changing their minds. On *In the Loop* Jamie Cairney's handheld camera and Anthony Boys and Billy Sneddon's cutting move the exchanges so fast that we have to listen across the group rather than wait for the star. We enjoyed Capaldi's bullying more than we should have, and the film means us to, because that enjoyment is how these offices run.

What does not work is the same thing turned up. Every project we have reviewed left us the same reservation: the abuse gets so loud that it crowds out the people delivering it. In *Veep* nobody believes anything, and over 65 episodes that stops looking like observation and becomes a way of never writing a scene in which somebody means it. In *The Death of Stalin* the broader clowning sometimes makes the danger recede, though Simon Russell Beale brings it back. Iannucci has said the job is "allowing the story to tell the director what the style should be". For twenty years the story has told him the same thing.

Start with *The Thick of It*, then *In the Loop*, then the middle five seasons of *Veep*. Bring a tolerance for being sworn at, and do not expect anyone on screen to mean a word.

## Biography

Armando Iannucci is a Scottish satirist, writer, director and producer. Born in Glasgow on 28 November 1963 to Italian parents, he studied at the University of Glasgow and the University of Oxford.

He began his career at BBC Scotland and BBC Radio 4. With Chris Morris he co-created the radio series On the Hour, which transferred to television as The Day Today (1994). A character from the series, Alan Partridge, featured in I'm Alan Partridge (1997). Iannucci created, wrote and directed the political sitcom The Thick of It (2005). His later work includes the feature film In the Loop (2009), the HBO series Veep (2012) and the film The Death of Stalin (2017).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, rts.org.uk.*

## On Fi1m (9)

### Performed in (1)

- *The Day Today* (1994), Fi1m 86, as Hellwyn Ballard — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-day-today.md)

### Directed (6)

- *The Personal History of David Copperfield* (2019), Fi1m 81, Director, Producer, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/the-personal-history-of-david-copperfield.md)
- *The Death of Stalin* (2017), Fi1m 83, Screenplay, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-death-of-stalin.md)
- *Veep* (2012), Fi1m 82, Teleplay, Writer, Director, Story, Executive Producer, Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/veep.md)
- *In the Loop* (2009), Fi1m 92, Screenplay, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/in-the-loop.md)
- *The Thick of It* (2005), Fi1m 94, Creator, Producer, Director, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-thick-of-it.md)
- *I'm Alan Partridge* (1997), Fi1m 88, Producer, Director, Writer, Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/im-alan-partridge.md)

### Wrote (1) — the average rests on these

- *Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge* (1994), Fi1m 82, Producer, Writer, Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/knowing-me-knowing-you-with-alan-partridge.md)

### Produced (1)

- *Alan Partridge: Welcome to the Places of My Life* (2012), Fi1m 84, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/alan-partridge-welcome-to-the-places-of-my-life.md)

## Complete filmography (34)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *National Theatre Live: Dr. Strangelove* (2025), Screenplay
- *The Franchise* (2024), series, Executive Producer
- *Avenue 5* (2020), series, Director, Executive Producer, Writer, Story, Creator
- *The Personal History of David Copperfield* (2019), Director, Screenplay, Producer — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/the-personal-history-of-david-copperfield.md)
- *Michael Palin: A Life on Screen* (2018), Actor
- *The Death of Stalin* (2017), Director, Screenplay — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/film/the-death-of-stalin.md)
- *Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa* (2013), Writer, Executive Producer
- *Alan Partridge: Welcome to the Places of My Life* (2012), Executive Producer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/alan-partridge-welcome-to-the-places-of-my-life.md)
- *Veep* (2012), series, Executive Producer, Director, Writer, Teleplay, Story, Creator — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/veep.md)
- *Armando's Tale of Charles Dickens* (2012), Presenter, Writer
- *Mid Morning Matters with Alan Partridge* (2010), series, Director, Writer, Creator
- *Milton's Heaven and Hell* (2009), Presenter, Writer
- *Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle* (2009), series, as Interviewer · Producer
- *In the Loop* (2009), Screenplay, Director — Fi1m 92, [page](https://film.one/film/in-the-loop.md)
- *The Thick of It* (2007), Executive Producer, Characters
- *Spinners and Losers* (2007), Director, Writer, Producer
- *The Rise of the Nutters* (2007), Creator, Writer, Director
- *Time Trumpet* (2006), series, Director, Producer, Writer, Creator
- *The Thick of It* (2005), series, Director, Producer, Writer, Creator — Fi1m 94, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-thick-of-it.md)
- *2004: The Stupid Version* (2004), series, Director, Writer
- *Britain's Best Sitcom* (2004), series, Writer
- *Gash* (2003), series, Creator
- *Anglian Lives: Alan Partridge* (2003), Writer
- *The Armando Iannucci Shows* (2001), series, Producer, Director, Writer, Creator
- *Tube Tales* (1999), Director, Writer
- *Clinton: His Struggle with Dirt* (1998), Producer, Director, Writer
- *I'm Alan Partridge* (1997), series, Writer, Producer, Director, Creator — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/im-alan-partridge.md)
- *Where's Elvis This Week?* (1996), series, Actor
- *Alan Partridge's Country Ramble* (1995), Producer
- *The Saturday Night Armistice* (1995), series, Writer
- *The Day Today* (1994), series, as Hellwyn Ballard · Producer, Writer, Creator — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-day-today.md)
- *Paddington 4*, Writer
- *Growth*, Director
- *In Too Deep*, Director, Writer, Producer

## Gallery

- ![Media, Satire and Modern Politics, 22 Sep 2016, cht.hm/2dlFwCd](https://film.one/media/person/60211/gallery-5813cdc47c59.jpg) Media, Satire and Modern Politics, 22 Sep 2016, cht.hm/2dlFwCd — Chatham House, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Armando_Iannucci_at_Chatham_House_2016_%282%29_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Armando Iannucci at the Cheltenham Literary Festival 17 October 2010. (2012)](https://film.one/media/person/60211/gallery-8b298988e037.jpg) Armando Iannucci at the Cheltenham Literary Festival 17 October 2010. (2012) — Armando_Iannucci_and_the_Thick_of_It_writing_team.jpg: honeyfitz from UK
derivative work: Dr Greg, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Armando_Iannucci_at_Cheltenham_Literary_Festival_2010_%28tighter_crop%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Director Armando Iannucci at the premiere of Death of Stalin, 2017 Toronto Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/60211/gallery-060bf5e9bbb2.jpg) Director Armando Iannucci at the premiere of Death of Stalin, 2017 Toronto Film Festival — GabboT, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/Death_of_Stalin_11_%2836365181263%29.jpg/1280px-Death_of_Stalin_11_%2836365181263%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Armando Iannucci at Cheltenham Literary Festival October 17th 2010 (2012)](https://film.one/media/person/60211/gallery-226062fe090d.jpg) Armando Iannucci at Cheltenham Literary Festival October 17th 2010 (2012) — Armando_Iannucci_and_the_Thick_of_It_writing_team.jpg: honeyfitz from UK
derivative work: RanZag, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/Armando_Iannucci_at_Cheltenham_Literary_Festival_2010.jpg/1280px-Armando_Iannucci_at_Cheltenham_Literary_Festival_2010.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Armando Iannucci](https://film.one/media/person/60211/gallery-c09a17bdfa77.jpg) Armando Iannucci — Image via TMDB
- ![Armando Iannucci](https://film.one/media/person/60211/gallery-717b1e534e37.jpg) Armando Iannucci — Image via TMDB
- ![Armando Iannucci](https://film.one/media/person/60211/gallery-d0dec3517d18.jpg) Armando Iannucci — Image via TMDB
- ![Chatham House London Conference, 23-24 October 2017, St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, London](https://film.one/media/person/60211/gallery-72c01db675c8.jpg) Chatham House London Conference, 23-24 October 2017, St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, London — Chatham House, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Armando_Iannucci_Chatham_House_2017.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Armando Iannucci](https://film.one/media/person/60211/gallery-40172cf7fe29.jpg) Armando Iannucci — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 2010: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *In the Loop*

### Primetime Emmy Awards — 1 won

- 2015: Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (won), for *Veep*

### Other awards — 4 won, 1 nominated

- Commander of the Order of the British Empire 2024: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (won)
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature 2019: Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (won)
- European Film Award for Best Comedy 2018: European Film Award for Best Comedy (won), for *The Death of Stalin*
- European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film 2018: European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film (nominated), for *The Death of Stalin*
- honorary doctorate 2018: honorary doctorate (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/armando-iannucci