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The Thick of IT: Armando Iannucci pens Silicon Valley satire

Armando Iannucci, creator of award-winning political satire The Thick of It, is planning a new show set in Silicon Valley on HBO.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
Expertise Films, TV, Movies, Television, Technology
Richard Trenholm
2 min read

What would Malcolm Tucker make of Mark Zuckerberg? That's what I wonder as Armando Iannucci, the creator of award-winning political satire The Thick of It, announces he's planning a new show set in Silicon Valley.

Speaking to The Guardian, Iannucci reveals that he has written a script to a Silicon Valley-set show for HBO, the US cable network behind such modern classics as The Sopranos, The Wire and Game of Thrones.

The latest -- and possibly last -- series of The Thick of It hits our screens this weekend, while Iannucci's comedy about the US vice-president, Veep, has been renewed for a second season.

Although we won't see machiavellian spin doctor Malcolm Tucker heading for the tech heartland near San Francisco, Iannucci reckons scrutinising our new technological overlords is a natural progression from The Thick of It and Veep's dissection of political power. "Microsoft, Google, Facebook: you have these twentysomethings who have a way into billions of households," Ianucci says, which means "power is gravitating towards these companies".

Suggesting that the show could cover similar ground to David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's Oscar-winning portrait of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg,The Social Network, Iannucci adds, "I'm interested in what it does to you when you're 25 and you're a multi-billionaire and everyone in the world knows who you are."

Tech is turning up in a few new films and TV shows. Wedding Crashers Vince Vaughan and Owen Wilson are reunited as raucous Google employees in The Internship, while Ashton Kutcher plays Apple founder Steve Jobs in the first of two Jobs biopics slated for next year. Sorkin is penning the other.

Meanwhile Being John Malkovitch helmer Spike Jonze is directing Her, which tells the tale of Joaquin Phoenix falling in love with an operating system -- not, presumably, Windows Vista.

Which gadget-packed movie are you most excited about? And is technology the new politics? Spin your thoughts in the comments or on our sharply satirical Facebook page.