Lines to take · BBC Four 2005 → BBC Two 2012 · Ref. TOI/05–12
DSA · Secretary of State
Hugh AbbotChris Langham · Series 1 and 2
Hugh Abbot is in post. For now.
The reshuffle
The department in The Thick of It is the Department of Social Affairs, DSA, until a reshuffle in the fifth episode renames it the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship and moves it to a new building. The real buildings moved too. Slide a new name into the holder and see where the department went.
DSADepartment of Social Affairs
Hugh AbbotSecretary of State for Social AffairsChris Langham · 2005
Hugh Abbot is in post: four places on file.
The department was the Department of Social Affairs (DSA) until the reshuffle of episode five, then the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship, in a new building. Hugh Abbot is Secretary of State for Social Affairs; Nicola Murray is a last-minute choice in a reshuffle before a general election; in the fourth series Peter Mannion is the new Secretary of State. The pairing of each minister with a set of places is this page’s own.
Simon Rogers, interviewed in October 2012: the department was shot in an empty office building in Walton-on-Thames, where the offices were built to match the BBC Media Centre.
The Call Sheet: Q & A with Simon Rogers, Production Designer (October 2012, archived copy)
A brewery in Park Royal and a station in Perivale: the department begins in Brent and Ealing, then moves to Wood Lane.
Cumberland Avenue, Park Royal, London NW10 (Brent)
An old brewery office at Park Royal stands in for the minister’s department in the first series.
The brewery has gone. Cumberland Avenue is a public road through the Park Royal estate; nothing of the set survives.
Horsenden Lane South, Perivale (Ealing)
Hugh and Glenn pick Ollie up at Perivale station on the way to Wiltshire.
A working Central line station on Horsenden Lane South, open to anyone with a fare.
Western Avenue (A40) at the Hoover Building, Perivale (Ealing)
The team argue over the policy they are about to announce, on Western Avenue.
A main road. The Hoover Building fronts it, and its lawn is beside the pavement.
101 Wood Lane, White City, London W12
After the reshuffle the department moves to a new building, listed by IMDb as Television Centre.
Now flats, offices, a cinema and hotels round the old ring. The forecourt off Wood Lane is open to walk into.
Brent, Ealing and White City
Government in The Thick of It is west London. The first department was an old brewery office at Park Royal; the first episode goes out to Perivale; the new building is on Wood Lane.
A fortnight after the first episode went out, the brewery is still standing on Cumberland Avenue.
Cumberland Avenue, Park Royal, London NW10 (Brent)
The first series was filmed in the former Guinness brewery at Park Royal in west London, beside the A40.
IMDb lists the brewery on Cumberland Avenue, now demolished, as the department’s offices from the first episode to the second episode of the second series.
Alexander Gibb and Sir Giles Gilbert Scott designed it; it went up between 1933 and 1936, and the whole factory was demolished in 2006.
The brewery has gone. Cumberland Avenue is a public road through the Park Royal estate; nothing of the set survives.
Horsenden Lane South, Perivale (Ealing)
In the very first episode Hugh and Glenn pick Ollie up at Perivale station on their way to Wiltshire.
Brian Lewis designed it in 1938. The Second World War held it up, and it opened on 30 June 1947.
A planned tower and wing were never built. It was listed at Grade II in July 2011.
A working Central line station on Horsenden Lane South, open to anyone with a fare.
Western Avenue (A40) at the Hoover Building, Perivale (Ealing)
In the first episode the team argue over the policy they are about to announce on Western Avenue in Perivale.
The Hoover Building on Western Avenue, by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners, opened in May 1933 as Hoover’s UK headquarters. It is listed at Grade II*.
Its main building was turned into flats in 2017 and 2018.
A main road. The Hoover Building fronts it, and its lawn is beside the pavement.
101 Wood Lane, White City, London W12
IMDb lists Television Centre as the department’s new offices in the last episode of the second series, after the move to a new building.
It opened on 29 June 1960 and was the home of BBC Television until the building closed on 31 March 2013.
It was redeveloped with flats, offices, a cinema and hotels; studios 1, 2 and 3 were refurbished and leased back to the BBC.
Now flats, offices, a cinema and hotels round the old ring. The forecourt off Wood Lane is open to walk into.
191 Wood Lane, White City, London W12 (now The MediaWorks)
The establishing shots of the department, and many arrivals and departures, were filmed at the BBC’s Media Centre; the office sets were built to match its offices.
BBC Comedy’s own photographs of Simon Rogers’s DoSAC set were taken partly at the Media Centre and partly in a replica set built in Watford.
The Media Village it belongs to opened in May 2004. Media Centre closed on 10 July 2015 after its sale, and is now called The MediaWorks.
An office building at White City Place. See it from Wood Lane and the lawn in front.
London
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Whitehall on foot
Malcolm Tucker does not walk. He runs along Whitehall to Richmond Terrace and down St Margaret Street towards the House. Follow him, one stop at a time.
Stop 1 of 4: Downing Street.
Downing Street, off Whitehall, London SW1
Malcolm Tucker, Peter Capaldi’s character, is the Government’s Director of Communications.
On 4 December 2009, the week before the third series ended, Rebecca Front was a guest at a Christmas reception inside Downing Street.
Number 10 is the Prime Minister’s official residence and office: a Grade I building of about 100 rooms.
Behind security gates. You see the street through the gates from the Whitehall pavement.
The swearing consultant
The writer Ian Martin went through the scripts before rehearsal and added the language. Here is a press line before he got to it. Send it to him; whatever comes back cannot be printed.
The Minister is fully committed to this policy and will make a statement in due course.
Clean. Nobody in the series talks like this.
Ian Martin, credited as a swearing consultant, added colourful language to the scripts before rehearsals. Martin Sixsmith, a journalist and former civil servant, advised the writers.
Simon Rogers’s favourite moment: Stewart and Peter Mannion climbing to the top of a children’s slide to get a phone signal.
The Call Sheet: Q & A with Simon Rogers, Production Designer (October 2012, archived copy)
Series 3, episode 1 · 24 October 2009
One word from the script left the building. Pass it on and see where it went.
24 Oct 2009, BBC Two: First heard at the end of the first episode of the third series; the writer Tony Roche coined it.
24 Oct 2009: First heard at the end of the first episode of the third series; the writer Tony Roche coined it. 18 Apr 2012: Ed Miliband uses it against the Budget, and other opposition MPs pick it up. 13 Nov 2012: Oxford names it Word of the Year. Aug 2013: It goes into the online Oxford Dictionary of English.
Palace of Westminster, London SW1 (Cromwell Green entrance)
On 18 April 2012 Ed Miliband used it in the Commons against the Budget, saying people in Downing Street were calling it that.
Prime Minister’s Questions is at noon every Wednesday. Tickets are free through your MP for UK residents; anyone else can queue for space in the gallery.
Guided tours (adult £40, £43 on the day) and audio tours (adult £31, £34 on the day). The public galleries are free; enter at Cromwell Green.
Westminster · Adult £40 (£43 on the day)
The official guided tour takes in the Commons chamber where the series’ word was used against the Budget in 2012. Adults £40 booked ahead, £43 on the day; the audio tour is £31.
See tour pricesThe Strand and Ickenham
Strand, London WC2
The fourth series turns on the Goolding Inquiry, a public inquiry in the manner of Leveson, launched over leaked documents.
The Leveson Inquiry heard its oral evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice, in public hearings through 2011 and 2012.
George Edmund Street designed the building; Queen Victoria opened it in 1882. It is listed at Grade I.
A working court on the Strand. The Gothic front is on the pavement, by Temple and Chancery Lane stations.
Ickenham, London Borough of Hillingdon
IMDb lists Swakeleys House in Ickenham for In the Loop’s interiors of Downing Street and government offices.
Simon Rogers says the series’ opposition offices were built in a country house in Uxbridge that was also used in In the Loop.
The Grade I house was built in 1638. In 2014 its owner won permission to make it a single large residence.
A private house: named here and kept off the map. Swakeleys Park beside it is public.
In the Loop, the film that came out of the series, was shot from May to December 2008 in London, Washington and New York, between the specials and the third series. It opened in Britain on 17 April 2009 and was nominated for the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. Capaldi, and Paul Higgins as Jamie, are the only actors with substantial parts who play the same characters as on television.
Filming dates and cities, UK release, Oscar nomination; Capaldi and Higgins the only substantial roles carried over as the same characters.
The people, while it was on
Armando Iannucci created, co-wrote and directed it. Around Capaldi are Chris Langham as Hugh Abbot, Rebecca Front as Nicola Murray, Roger Allam as Peter Mannion, James Smith as Glenn Cullen, Chris Addison as Ollie Reeder, Joanna Scanlan as Terri Coverley and Vincent Franklin as Stewart Pearson. Adam Tandy produced it; there is no incidental music and no laughter track. It won the BAFTA for best situation comedy in 2006 and 2010, and in 2010 Capaldi and Front won the comedy performance awards.
Creator, cast, producer, the hand-held style with no incidental music or laughter track, BAFTA awards in 2006 and 2010, and the dates, channels and lengths of each series.
11 places you can visit, 6 in Westminster and on the Strand and 5 in west London. Swakeleys House in Ickenham is a private house: named here, not on the map.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Behind security gates. You see the street through the gates from the Whitehall pavement.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Government offices behind railings. Look along the terrace from the Whitehall pavement.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public street along the Palace of Westminster, from Parliament Square to the Victoria Tower.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Guided tours (adult £40, £43 on the day) and audio tours (adult £31, £34 on the day). The public galleries are free; enter at Cromwell Green.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Parliamentary offices, not open to visitors. See the striped front from Victoria Embankment.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working court on the Strand. The Gothic front is on the pavement, by Temple and Chancery Lane stations.
Downing Street, off Whitehall, London SW1
Malcolm Tucker, Peter Capaldi’s character, is the Government’s Director of Communications.
Behind security gates. You see the street through the gates from the Whitehall pavement.
Richmond Terrace, off Whitehall, London SW1
IMDb’s location list has Malcolm running along Whitehall to Richmond Terrace.
Government offices behind railings. Look along the terrace from the Whitehall pavement.
St Margaret Street, Westminster, London SW1
IMDb’s location list has Malcolm running down St Margaret Street towards the Houses of Parliament.
A public street along the Palace of Westminster, from Parliament Square to the Victoria Tower.
Palace of Westminster, London SW1 (Cromwell Green entrance)
The word omnishambles, coined by the writer Tony Roche, was first heard at the end of the first episode of the third series, broadcast on 24 October 2009.
Guided tours (adult £40, £43 on the day) and audio tours (adult £31, £34 on the day). The public galleries are free; enter at Cromwell Green.
Victoria Embankment, Westminster, London SW1
The opposition’s offices in the series were designed on the look of the opposition offices in Norman Shaw House, then built in a country house in Uxbridge.
Parliamentary offices, not open to visitors. See the striped front from Victoria Embankment.
Strand, London WC2
The fourth series turns on the Goolding Inquiry, a public inquiry in the manner of Leveson, launched over leaked documents.
A working court on the Strand. The Gothic front is on the pavement, by Temple and Chancery Lane stations.
Stay
A hotel in Whitehall Court, between the Embankment and Whitehall.
Whitehall
A hotel in Whitehall Court, a short walk from Embankment and Charing Cross stations, with the Norman Shaw buildings and Richmond Terrace a few minutes away on foot.
See the hotelGo there
The official tour of the Palace, and walking and location tours of Westminster.
Westminster · Adult £40 (£43 on the day)
The official guided tour takes in the Commons chamber where the series’ word was used against the Budget in 2012. Adults £40 booked ahead, £43 on the day; the audio tour is £31.
See tour pricesWestminster
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Live marketplace results for television and film location tours of London. Check each itinerary for Westminster.
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Prime Minister’s Questions from the public gallery.
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Take it home
Iannucci in 2009, and the diaries of the man Malcolm Tucker was partly based on.
Armando Iannucci · Little, Brown
Iannucci’s 2009 book of bewilderment and sleaze in the new century, published the year the third series went out.
Find the bookAlastair Campbell · Knopf
Campbell’s diaries, published in 2007. Malcolm Tucker was patterned partly on him.
Find the bookDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
12 of 12 places · 12 of 12 Moments
Cumberland Avenue, Park Royal, London NW10 (Brent)
An old brewery office at Park Royal stands in for the minister’s department in the first series.
Horsenden Lane South, Perivale (Ealing)
Hugh and Glenn pick Ollie up at Perivale station on the way to Wiltshire.
Western Avenue (A40) at the Hoover Building, Perivale (Ealing)
The team argue over the policy they are about to announce, on Western Avenue.
101 Wood Lane, White City, London W12
After the reshuffle the department moves to a new building, listed by IMDb as Television Centre.
191 Wood Lane, White City, London W12 (now The MediaWorks)
Ministers and advisers come and go at the department; those shots were filmed at the BBC Media Centre.
Downing Street, off Whitehall, London SW1
Rebecca Front, Nicola Murray in the series, at a Christmas reception inside Downing Street.
Richmond Terrace, off Whitehall, London SW1
Malcolm runs along Whitehall to Richmond Terrace.
St Margaret Street, Westminster, London SW1
Malcolm runs down St Margaret Street towards the Houses of Parliament.
Palace of Westminster, London SW1 (Cromwell Green entrance)
The series’ word omnishambles is used in the House of Commons against the Budget.
Victoria Embankment, Westminster, London SW1
The opposition’s offices are designed on the look of the real ones in Norman Shaw House.
Strand, London WC2
The fourth series turns on a public inquiry in the manner of Leveson, whose hearings sat at the Royal Courts of Justice.
Ickenham, London Borough of Hillingdon
In the Loop films its Downing Street and government interiors at Swakeleys House.
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