Relationship Spotlight: Hugh Abbot & Malcolm Tucker (The Thick of It)

Hugh and Malcolm are a little hard to pin down.  There’s not a big, significant connection, for good or bad, between them.  They’re not friends (as Malcolm comments to Hugh – awkward,) but they’re not enemies, either.  Though Malcolm is clearly above Hugh, he’s not really Hugh’s boss.  Yet, little exchanges between them intrigue me, and it’s too bad that Hugh had to exit the show due to problems with the actor, because I’d have liked to see more of this relationship.

As with most of Malcolm’s working relationships, his dynamic with Hugh starts with power and fear.  Not only is Malcolm’s general demeanor, with his profane tirades and abuse-laden fury, hugely intimidating, but on a simple, factual level, Malcolm is sort of positioned as the prime minister’s avatar.  Hugh and other ministers of his ilk see the PM rarely enough that it’s worth talking about when they do, but while the PM remains offscreen and largely inaccessible, Malcolm is the emissary he sends down to the trenches to make his will known (in Malcolm’s trademark sweary way.)  A call or visit from Malcolm holds the prospect of receiving a severe “bollocking,” or even getting fired, and Malcolm’s methods are pretty much guaranteed to be overpowering, humiliating and intimidating.  As such, Malcolm is usually an ominous presence for Hugh, who’s been known to physically hide when he sees Malcolm coming. 

That said, as cowed as Hugh is by Malcolm, he’s not entirely spineless, either.  When his frustration outstrips his fear, he calls out Number 10 on its madness.  He’s pointed out, for instance, how tricky it is to inform the press about the announcement he made at a press conference they attended when he didn’t actually make the announcement, or that not selling a two-bedroom flat isn’t as heinous a crime as plotting to blow up the House of Lords.  In these moments, Malcom certainly doesn’t become polite to or pleasant towards Hugh, but he does tend to level with the minister, admit that the party line doesn’t make sense, and almost-apologize that it has to be done anyway.  If Malcolm ever respects Hugh, it’s probably during these scenes.

So what does Malcolm think of Hugh generally?  Hard to say.  Hugh can definitely infuriate, and his propensity for gigantic screw-ups creates a lot of extra, ludicrous problems for Malcolm to mop up, but Malcolm doesn’t seem to dislike him as a rule.  I enjoy the occasional interactions they have in which Malcolm isn’t venting his spleen at Hugh, like when Malcolm sits down with Hugh to make sure he watches his “Zeitgeist tape,” a digest of current pop-culture to help him seem more “clued up” than he actually is.  I also enjoy the scene where Malcolm enlists Hugh, Glenn, and Ollie to assist Malcolm in taking the ambitious Julius down a peg.  In both instances, the playing field seems a bit more level, and Malcolm isn’t as powerful or threatening a figure.

I’ll end on two brief, unexpected moments.  First, Hugh is complaining about his own exhaustion and, not seeing how Malcolm finds time for all he has to do, asks if Malcolm ever gets lonely.  Second, after Hugh is a fly on the wall during an uncomfortable conversation between Malcolm and Julius, he checks to see if Malcolm is okay.  In both cases, Hugh views Malcolm as a person rather than a terrifying superior, and Malcolm seems so flabbergasted that, for a second, he doesn’t know how to react.  I like them a lot – we almost never see other characters inquiring after Malcolm’s well-being, and it’s interesting that it throws him so much.  Not that I want to woobify Malcolm, but bogeyman of Whitehall or not, he’s still a person at the end of the day, and I like someone taking time to see him as such.