Armando Ianucci: Veep writer on No 10’s pandemic behaviour

Rage against the political machine: the writer Armando Iannucci has deployed his comedic genius to savage modern-day politics, with award-winning television shows like The Thick of It – satirising the inner workings of Britain’s government and the chaotic, expletive laden firefighting by characters like comms chief Malcolm Tucker.

Winner of 17 primetime Emmys, Iannucci was also behind America’s HBO comedy series Veep, where a former senator becomes vice president of the United States.

Since the pandemic cancelled most of his film and television work, Iannucci has responded with a new book – a mock-epic poem about the government’s handling of the crisis  and his fears about the future.

We asked him how he took on writing about something as deeply tragic as the pandemic.