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| Armando Iannucci: 'What the BBC needs to do is to bite the bullet' | |
| (about 9 hours later) | |
| It would be a match made in TV heaven; Armando Iannucci writing an episode of Doctor Who, reuniting him with Peter Capaldi, the former star of Iannucci’s satirical romp, The Thick Of It. | It would be a match made in TV heaven; Armando Iannucci writing an episode of Doctor Who, reuniting him with Peter Capaldi, the former star of Iannucci’s satirical romp, The Thick Of It. |
| The man behind foul-mouthed spin doctor Malcolm Tucker deciding the time lord’s fate is an intriguing prospect, but don’t set your recorder just yet. Iannucci has discussed the idea with Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat but his diary is full for the year ahead. “I’m a big fan of Doctor Who and obviously with Peter, who’s loving it, it would be nice to,” says Iannucci. “I’ve spoken off and on to them but it’s a case of being able to fit something in. It’s a nice thought.” | The man behind foul-mouthed spin doctor Malcolm Tucker deciding the time lord’s fate is an intriguing prospect, but don’t set your recorder just yet. Iannucci has discussed the idea with Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat but his diary is full for the year ahead. “I’m a big fan of Doctor Who and obviously with Peter, who’s loving it, it would be nice to,” says Iannucci. “I’ve spoken off and on to them but it’s a case of being able to fit something in. It’s a nice thought.” |
| But has he an idea of the storyline and where he might take the Doctor? “Yes, in our conversations there was an idea we had, but it may be a wee while yet before we get round to working out when it would be,” he says. “Knowing I am committed for the next year or so, it’s all on hold. ‘Let’s get back in touch when we can’.” | But has he an idea of the storyline and where he might take the Doctor? “Yes, in our conversations there was an idea we had, but it may be a wee while yet before we get round to working out when it would be,” he says. “Knowing I am committed for the next year or so, it’s all on hold. ‘Let’s get back in touch when we can’.” |
| More immediately, Iannucci will reunite with Steve Coogan for a new series of Alan Partridge’s Mid Morning Matters on Sky Atlantic later this year. A film sequel to 2013’s Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa is also on the cards. “We haven’t said no and we haven’t said yes,” says Iannucci. “We will think about it soonish.” Partridge aside, Iannucci is “itching” for a return to film six years after The Thick Of It’s big screen spin-off, In The Loop, and is talking to BBC Films, among others, about a “variety of stuff”. | More immediately, Iannucci will reunite with Steve Coogan for a new series of Alan Partridge’s Mid Morning Matters on Sky Atlantic later this year. A film sequel to 2013’s Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa is also on the cards. “We haven’t said no and we haven’t said yes,” says Iannucci. “We will think about it soonish.” Partridge aside, Iannucci is “itching” for a return to film six years after The Thick Of It’s big screen spin-off, In The Loop, and is talking to BBC Films, among others, about a “variety of stuff”. |
| “The one thing I don’t want to do is look at American politics or British politics. I feel I have done that,” he says. But why switch from TV to film when so much of the traffic is in the other direction? “It’s that thing where you have got one hit, it’s 90 minutes or thereabouts, and that’s when you tell the story,” he says. “In television you tell a story continuously over a number of years with a bit of luck, which is great, but I do like that other discipline. Plus, you can shoot a film in four or five weeks.” | “The one thing I don’t want to do is look at American politics or British politics. I feel I have done that,” he says. But why switch from TV to film when so much of the traffic is in the other direction? “It’s that thing where you have got one hit, it’s 90 minutes or thereabouts, and that’s when you tell the story,” he says. “In television you tell a story continuously over a number of years with a bit of luck, which is great, but I do like that other discipline. Plus, you can shoot a film in four or five weeks.” |
| He is also considering a comedy about social media. “The more you look at the world of politics, the more you realise how limited political power is,” says Iannucci. “Companies like Google and Facebook have a much greater influence over individuals and that just intrigues me.” He is about to read Jon Ronson’s So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, a catalogue of online humiliation, and adds: “That’s an interesting area, the way the crowd can suddenly turn nasty and ugly within minutes of something happening. It’s like an infection, or a mass hysteria. It’s kind of spooky.” | He is also considering a comedy about social media. “The more you look at the world of politics, the more you realise how limited political power is,” says Iannucci. “Companies like Google and Facebook have a much greater influence over individuals and that just intrigues me.” He is about to read Jon Ronson’s So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, a catalogue of online humiliation, and adds: “That’s an interesting area, the way the crowd can suddenly turn nasty and ugly within minutes of something happening. It’s like an infection, or a mass hysteria. It’s kind of spooky.” |
| Iannucci will discuss his career at a Royal Television Society event in London on Wednesday. It is two and a half years since he delivered the Bafta lecture in which he called on the BBC to fight back against its critics in parliament and the press. Pretty much ever since, the BBC has been embroiled in one crisis after another, from the Savile scandal to the implosion of the BBC Trust. “Tony Hall seems to have at least calmed things down,” says Iannucci. “He has a sense of a clear mission about what he wants the BBC to be.” | Iannucci will discuss his career at a Royal Television Society event in London on Wednesday. It is two and a half years since he delivered the Bafta lecture in which he called on the BBC to fight back against its critics in parliament and the press. Pretty much ever since, the BBC has been embroiled in one crisis after another, from the Savile scandal to the implosion of the BBC Trust. “Tony Hall seems to have at least calmed things down,” says Iannucci. “He has a sense of a clear mission about what he wants the BBC to be.” |
| What Iannucci thinks the BBC needs is to face up to the end of the licence fee. “More and more people are poking their heads up and saying, ‘do you think the licence fee is going to last?’ It would be lovely but I really don’t. Inevitably it’s going to fall apart, or it’s going to be more difficult to collect or sustain,” he says, a process made more difficult by the possible decriminalisation of its non-payment. “Why not just bite the bullet and say, ‘OK, let’s do a completely different way of funding’ rather than having a switch forced on them by circumstances or legislation.” | What Iannucci thinks the BBC needs is to face up to the end of the licence fee. “More and more people are poking their heads up and saying, ‘do you think the licence fee is going to last?’ It would be lovely but I really don’t. Inevitably it’s going to fall apart, or it’s going to be more difficult to collect or sustain,” he says, a process made more difficult by the possible decriminalisation of its non-payment. “Why not just bite the bullet and say, ‘OK, let’s do a completely different way of funding’ rather than having a switch forced on them by circumstances or legislation.” |
| Related: Armando Iannucci interview: 'We didn't want Alpha Papa to be the equivalent of Holiday on the Buses' | Related: Armando Iannucci interview: 'We didn't want Alpha Papa to be the equivalent of Holiday on the Buses' |
| Iannucci’s idea, outlined in his Bafta lecture, was for the BBC to aggressively market itself with paid-for subscription abroad – “prostitute itself to blue buggery” – which would help subsidise subscription services in the UK at a lower level than the current licence fee. “I reckon in 10 years [the licence fee] will be gone,” he says. “This generation – there have been several generations – just don’t watch television in a traditional way.” As for how many people in the UK would subscribe, Iannucci reckons “it would get enough. And those that didn’t, I think they would notice.” | Iannucci’s idea, outlined in his Bafta lecture, was for the BBC to aggressively market itself with paid-for subscription abroad – “prostitute itself to blue buggery” – which would help subsidise subscription services in the UK at a lower level than the current licence fee. “I reckon in 10 years [the licence fee] will be gone,” he says. “This generation – there have been several generations – just don’t watch television in a traditional way.” As for how many people in the UK would subscribe, Iannucci reckons “it would get enough. And those that didn’t, I think they would notice.” |
| Negotiations around the BBC’s charter renewal and its future funding will not begin until after the general election. Iannucci predicts the 7 May poll will be “very frustrating because like most election campaigns nothing really gets discussed. I think the interesting thing will be the day after and from then on. There are so many possibilities of how messy it can be, it could be quite entertaining.” But he has fears about a “worrying level of frustration” if, as seems inevitable, several of the smaller parties receive a large number of votes but only a handful of MPs. | Negotiations around the BBC’s charter renewal and its future funding will not begin until after the general election. Iannucci predicts the 7 May poll will be “very frustrating because like most election campaigns nothing really gets discussed. I think the interesting thing will be the day after and from then on. There are so many possibilities of how messy it can be, it could be quite entertaining.” But he has fears about a “worrying level of frustration” if, as seems inevitable, several of the smaller parties receive a large number of votes but only a handful of MPs. |
| “Like the licence fee, the present electoral system is not fit for purpose, the first past the post system just doesn’t work. But in order for it to change it requires politicians in power to give away some of their power. That’s the problem.” But Iannucci does not subscribe to the Russell Brand school of not voting. “I would rather people voted but put ‘none of the above’ or something to express their feelings. It’s difficult to heed the voice of someone who hasn’t said anything.” | “Like the licence fee, the present electoral system is not fit for purpose, the first past the post system just doesn’t work. But in order for it to change it requires politicians in power to give away some of their power. That’s the problem.” But Iannucci does not subscribe to the Russell Brand school of not voting. “I would rather people voted but put ‘none of the above’ or something to express their feelings. It’s difficult to heed the voice of someone who hasn’t said anything.” |
| He argues that there was “something contemptuous” about David Cameron’s attitude to the TV leader debates, comparing him to a “petulant child who doesn’t want to do his homework coming up with more and more excuses as to why it can’t happen”. | He argues that there was “something contemptuous” about David Cameron’s attitude to the TV leader debates, comparing him to a “petulant child who doesn’t want to do his homework coming up with more and more excuses as to why it can’t happen”. |
| “I kind of half take his point that these leader debates turn into the [campaign’s] main thing and it kind of detracts from the rest,” he says. “But if what you are saying is ‘I don’t want to discuss my politics during a general election campaign to as wide an audience as possible’, then you don’t really deserve to be in politics.” | “I kind of half take his point that these leader debates turn into the [campaign’s] main thing and it kind of detracts from the rest,” he says. “But if what you are saying is ‘I don’t want to discuss my politics during a general election campaign to as wide an audience as possible’, then you don’t really deserve to be in politics.” |
| Iannucci’s focus of late has been on the other side of the Atlantic, where his White House satire Veep will return for a fourth series next month, and in the UK on Sky Atlantic in July. Selina Meyer, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, is now president, but the obstacles to office remain. “I’m sure Obama would have a lot to say about the limits of the job,” he says. | Iannucci’s focus of late has been on the other side of the Atlantic, where his White House satire Veep will return for a fourth series next month, and in the UK on Sky Atlantic in July. Selina Meyer, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, is now president, but the obstacles to office remain. “I’m sure Obama would have a lot to say about the limits of the job,” he says. |
| Despite its recent travails, Iannucci remains optimistic about the BBC. “The drama has been great the last two or three years and they’ve got good comedy on now,” he says. | Despite its recent travails, Iannucci remains optimistic about the BBC. “The drama has been great the last two or three years and they’ve got good comedy on now,” he says. |
| “I don’t work within – I was going to say TV Centre – Broadcasting House, I can’t vouch for the attitudes and atmosphere, but as a viewer I get this sense there is a bit more confidence about getting on with making good stuff. That’s the key. The better the shows, the more it will shut people up.” | “I don’t work within – I was going to say TV Centre – Broadcasting House, I can’t vouch for the attitudes and atmosphere, but as a viewer I get this sense there is a bit more confidence about getting on with making good stuff. That’s the key. The better the shows, the more it will shut people up.” |
| In Conversation With Armando Iannucci is on 25 March at 6.45pm at the Telford Theatre, Westminster. rts.org.uk | In Conversation With Armando Iannucci is on 25 March at 6.45pm at the Telford Theatre, Westminster. rts.org.uk |
| Curriculum vitae | Curriculum vitae |
| Age 54 | Age 54 |
| Education St Aloysius’ College, Glasgow, University of Glasgow, University College, Oxford | Education St Aloysius’ College, Glasgow, University of Glasgow, University College, Oxford |
| Career 1994 co-writer, co-director, Knowing Me, Knowing You 2001 The Armando Iannucci Show, Channel 4 2005 creator, The Thick Of It 2008 wrote libretto for Opera North’s production Skin Deep 2009 film director, In The Loop 2012 creator, Veep 2013 co-writer Alan Partridge, Alpha Papa | Career 1994 co-writer, co-director, Knowing Me, Knowing You 2001 The Armando Iannucci Show, Channel 4 2005 creator, The Thick Of It 2008 wrote libretto for Opera North’s production Skin Deep 2009 film director, In The Loop 2012 creator, Veep 2013 co-writer Alan Partridge, Alpha Papa |
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