Tony Roche’s comedy is strongest when people struggle to finish a sentence without making their situation worse. We rate his contribution to The Thick of It highly, while giving its collaborators their proper share of the credit.
Fi1m perspective
In The Thick of It (2005), even a carefully chosen phrase can get its speaker into trouble. Roche is among the writers responsible for that awkwardness, and the dialogue has the confidence to sound untidy. The scripts leave room for improvisation, which the performers use to make carefully written confusion feel unplanned. We laughed hardest at the attempts to get through an exchange safely: the effort to avoid saying the wrong thing only makes matters worse.
This is collaborative writing, and the credit needs to stay shared. Simon Blackwell, Jesse Armstrong and Ian Martin are also among the writers; we cannot assign every well-placed insult to Roche. Peter Capaldi is only part of why it works, with the ensemble supplying the variety that the relentless abuse sometimes lacks. The verbal punishment is skilfully written, though it can become wearing. We find more to enjoy when the comedy allows the performers something beyond another opportunity to be vicious.
Roche’s collaboration with Armando Iannucci runs through much of this work. He contributed to all four series of The Thick of It and shared the screenplay of its film spin-off, In the Loop (2009), with Iannucci, Armstrong and Blackwell. His work on Veep (2012) included writing and co-executive producing, extending that collaboration into another workplace comedy. On Succession (2018), his credits encompass writing and executive producing, continuing a career largely spent contributing to ensembles rather than putting his name above a solitary creation.
Roche also directed the final episode of The Thick of It, though that one episode gives us less to judge than his sustained contribution to the scripts. He is credited with coining ‘omnishambles’, a pleasingly exact word for confusion. We value the verbal invention, but the improvisation matters too: the scripts give actors room to make these exchanges sound like conversations going wrong rather than rehearsed routines. Start with The Thick of It, and give the supporting players as much attention as the loudest voice.
Biography
Tony Roche is an English television, radio and film comedy writer and producer. After graduating from Warwick University with a degree in English, he began as a stand-up comedian and worked on radio series including The Sunday Format before moving into television.
He contributed to Armando Iannucci projects including co-creating Broken News and writing for all four series of The Thick of It (2005–2012), on which he also directed one episode. Roche co-wrote the spin-off film In the Loop (2009), which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. He later wrote for Veep and served as writer and executive producer on Succession (2018–2023).
Roche is credited with inventing the word 'omnishambles', named 2012 Word of the Year by the Oxford English Dictionary. His other credits include Fresh Meat, Avenue 5 and The Franchise.
