I'm sick of love, but I'm in the thick of it.

What ho.

If anyone's interested, tonight is the series two finale of "reality" sitcom 'The Thick of It', on BBC 4 at 10.30. It's been said before, but this is the closest thing to 'Yes Minister' since 'Yes Minister' (or 'Yes Prime Minister', if you'd rather). A creative spawn of Armando Iannucci ('2004: The Stupid Version', I thank you), it's pretty much one of the most intense (not to mention improvised) half-hour comedies you're likely to see. If you haven't caught it so far, it's centred around the Whitehall office of Minister for Social Affairs Hugh Abbot MP (played by the brilliant Chris Langham...see: 'People Like Us'). I love it. It's an incredibly sharp, ridiculously paced satire (one hopes, but I'm not that sure...Paul?) of spin and ineffectual faffing around. Why it's in a dark corner of BBC 4, I have no idea, especially when 'Broken News' ("original BBC 2 comedy at it's best"...anyone??) gets pride of place and is practically suffocated by it's own trailers. And not just that, it only gets a three episode run. Okay, so it crams more into its half hour than pretty much anything I've seen, and its jerky hand-cam style may make even the most loose-linen-trousered Channel 4 bosses green-gilled, but come on. Three episodes is rubbish, but kudos to the team for working so well with what they were given. Anyway, make sure you watch it - and if you like it, I believe the whole series (yes, the WHOLE series) is being given a "marathon" run this Saturday night (BBC 4).

You're welcome.

(Update: 'The Thick of It' set for a ten episode third series next year, including an hour-long special. Blinding.)