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.

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.