Favorite Characters: Hugh Abbot (The Thick of It)

I just adore Hugh.  It’s only right that his character left the series – due to problems with the actor – but I was sad to see him go, because he is no-holds-barred hysterical.  Just fantastically funny in a way that’s all his own.  No one does it quite like Hugh, and while the show is still a tremendous comedy after his exit (an improved one in some cases; I wouldn’t trade Malcolm’s increased focus for anything,) it definitely loses the particular shade of humor Hugh brought to the show’s palette. 

Back during Capaldi Fall, I described Hugh as an Eeyore of a cabinet minister, and I really don’t think there’s a better way to sum him up.  Yes, he’s a rather profane, self-serving Eeyore, but he’s an Eeyore none the less.  Part of it is down to the sheer insanity of some of the crises he finds himself facing.  Undoubtedly, he got into government work assuming it would be important, but during his time on the show, his major calamities include a full-blown scandal over the second home he doesn’t have time to use and the fate of his career resting on his ability to make small talk with the prime minister’s wife.  It’s not exactly the stuff home secretaries are made of, and it’s no wonder Hugh feels dragged down by it all.  It doesn’t help when even the most seemingly-inconsequential blunder unleashes the full wrath of Malcolm on him, and he’s more than once reminded how powerless he truly is compared to most of the politicos he rubs elbows with.

So yes, a great deal of it is circumstance, but there are plenty of people dealing with ludicrous catastrophes on the show.  Others are just as browbeaten, but Hugh’s lugubrious demeanor is entirely his own.  His natural state of being is “deflated,” and even when he’s genuinely happy, his smile looks fake.  It’s only when his expression is droopily glum that he seems natural.  This is a man who physical hides from his superior when he’s out of favor, is convinced that his driver secretly looks down on him, and doesn’t go to bed when he finally gets home because he has to be back at the office in a few hours and “[he] didn’t think it was worth taking [his] trousers off.”  It doesn’t get much more sad-sack than that.

I should point out that Hugh isn’t a good person by any practical definition.  I mean, he tries – sort of – to do his job well, but he’s ultimately much more concerned about his own political profile than anything he can accomplish for the public in his position as a cabinet minister.  He’ll generally attach his name to whatever policies he thinks will go over most successfully in the press, he’s not above pushing his friends/colleagues in front of him when Malcolm is out for blood, and when he’s desperate enough, virtually nothing is sacred to him.  Beyond that, he’s no stranger to bald-faced lying, he’s all but ruled by his insecurities, and he’s practically allergic to coming clean when he’s messed up.  Just who you want helping to run the country, right?  But he has ample company in all this.  The Thick of It isn’t a show for good people; that’s not the point, and part of the intrigue is seeing just how awful these characters can be personally, professionally, and to each other.  As such, you don’t watch to shake your finger at Hugh’s shortcomings (although he does some things that are truly terrible, especially at the end of series 2.)  Instead, you just laugh at how foolish he makes himself because of them.