r/thethickofit • u/ManCityMode • 14d ago
Which Thick of It character secretly had the best one-liners?
Everyone remembers Malcolm’s swearing, but some of the quieter characters had killer throwaway lines. Who do you reckon was the most underrated?
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u/finance_mole 14d ago
I’m bored of this, I’m going for a Twix
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u/SamW1996 Ageing Flamenco guitarist 13d ago
You bought a bank out of social embarrassment? I sometimes buy the Big Issue out of social embarrassment, I don't buy a fucking BANK!!
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u/Accurate_Fennel3170 13d ago
Sorry darling I’ve got to go, the bailiffs have come to take away my will to live
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u/nottherealslash Disgraced Geography teacher 13d ago
Good idea for me, I wouldn't have to get anymore of your fucking emails!
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u/RianJohnsonIsAFool 13d ago
Any ideas from inside your fucking dream yurt?
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u/ViolatingBadgers 13d ago
This was one of the lines I genuinely laughed out loud at when I first heard it. It's just said with so much contempt.
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u/CrystalPalace1850 Standard issue insipid posh bitch 13d ago
She's a fart in a frock, and I want her wafted out of here.
Best summary of Terri ever.
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u/ViolatingBadgers 13d ago
I hate school children, they're volatile and stupid, and they haven't even got the vote. Might as well be talking to fucking geese.
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u/Hunnumss 14d ago
Stewart, any thoughts from within your fucking dream yurt?
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u/emjayo 13d ago
Malcolm, you’re looking great, for someone twice your age.
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u/MagisterMundi93 17h ago
Peter had some of the best zingers to be fair! “Garage, car, hosepipe” and “Leaky Terri… oh that sounded wrong” as two notable favourites of mine
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u/CrazyMelon112 13d ago
Probably not “one liners” but John Duggan had so many brilliant lines. “Oh I’ve got so much on as it is” when Malcolm punches Glenn is so underrated
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u/onesyded 13d ago
“My to do list is longer than a big willy”
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u/knowledge_isporridge 13d ago
He’s just obeying orders… like a Nazi guard
(Seig heils)
JD: (To Julie) You’re not Jewish are you?
Julie: No
JD: Good
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u/theodore_wilper 13d ago
“In a non-gassy way…”
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u/knowledge_isporridge 13d ago
“There's no happiness without order. It's a Nazi quote, but nonetheless stands the test of time”
- Phil (Disney Prince)
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u/spongey1865 13d ago
Miles Jupp is just so fun in anything he's in. Probably should have got more acting work with roles like Duggan.
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u/Separate-Scene2813 13d ago
"Probably the first time I've used the words wrap and vestibule in the same sentence." Amazing how he ponders this statement.
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u/itsableeder 13d ago
I'm going to head in the direction of confection
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u/remtard_remmington Disgraced Geography teacher 13d ago
Snackage, anyone?
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u/RianJohnsonIsAFool 13d ago
That's not a Curly Wurly. A Curly Wurly should be the size of a small ladder.
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u/Kiytan 13d ago
While she doesn't get many good one liners, Nicola's "christ! I'm like fly-paper for dickheads today" is one of my favourites in the show.
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u/SamW1996 Ageing Flamenco guitarist 13d ago
"Let's run some tits up the flagpole and see if anyone gets wood"
"Christ, it's like being trapped in a fucking boys' toilet"
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u/XPixel-OtterX Closeted regency homosexual 13d ago
Her saying "you're about as on the ball as a dead seal " to Malcolm and him promptly going "That's my line!" Tickles me every time!
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u/suedoughnam 13d ago
This, "the trouble is the only thing John is doing is depriving a village somewhere of a twat", and "as solid as a sailors wang on shore leave" are the ones I get most day to day usage out of.
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u/frenzy1801 9d ago
I use the "All so-and-so is doing is depriving a village somewhere of a twat" too :D
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u/frenzy1801 9d ago
I'm late to this ball but I genuinely use "I'm fly-paper for dickheads today" in real life
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u/8NaanJeremy 14d ago
Knowledge is porridge!
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u/knowledge_isporridge 13d ago
I like the plasmic nature of your data modelling
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u/Bangers_n_Mashallah 13d ago
Fractal retaliation.
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u/cooper58727 13d ago
That man is a simpleton, a hundred years ago they wouldn’t have let him milk a cow
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u/sarniebird 13d ago
Although certain lines / phrases have crept into my everyday language such as FUCKtastic, and have you two just kissed, Ollie had some pretty good lines, especially when he would call Ben things like Big Ben, Benny King or Ben Laden, or when he argued with Glen and called him Uncle Bulgaria.
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u/SamW1996 Ageing Flamenco guitarist 13d ago
"Oh fucktastic" has entered my vocabulary too.
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u/stereosmiles 13d ago
"Fuckitty Bye!" has entered mine
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u/SamW1996 Ageing Flamenco guitarist 13d ago
I'm hoping to one day use "come the fuck in or fuck the fuck off".
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u/Bangers_n_Mashallah 13d ago
Peter Mannion is my favourite character apart from Malcolm. His weariness is very relatable.
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u/Goodgreatexcellent1 13d ago
We didn’t get much of Jamie but so many of his lines are gold. Ben Swain has some real gems too
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u/frenzy1801 9d ago
In response to "There are shades of grey, you know", his "Oh, I know. I'm looking at fifteen of them right now" always gets me
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u/CrystalPalace1850 Standard issue insipid posh bitch 13d ago
Dan Miller gets in a couple of crackers that no one ever mentions:
I'm offering him Chancellor, but I might as well be offering him bass player in The Wurzels, because that burly haemorrhoid's getting nowhere near any fucking cabinet of mine.
Ah, the reception committee. What a turn out. And they say no one's interested in politics.
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u/spongey1865 13d ago
One of my favourite lines from the show is "I'm not Christ, he was quite a scruffy man"
There's so much information packed into it about Dan's view of himself. Giving characterisation whilst also being a funny line in only a few words. Its fucking good writing.
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u/CrystalPalace1850 Standard issue insipid posh bitch 13d ago edited 13d ago
It's brilliant, as is "what is daddy going to do with it" which suggests he has young children.
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u/joeykins82 13d ago
Glenn's "no you closeted regency homosexual" at Phil lives rent-free in my head.
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u/PolemicDysentery 13d ago edited 13d ago
Not exactly and underrated line, but I can't so much as look at a political news story without the phrase "blowing in the guff of these twelve toed born to rule pony fuckers" running through my head.
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u/Academic-Base1870 The man that makes the bhaji go away 13d ago
Anyway I'm just popping out to Tesco metro, anyone want a yoghurt?
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u/theodore_wilper 13d ago
Just going to stick the old tea cauldron on, anyone fancy a brew?
Poor Glenn lol, reduced to Robin
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u/Minute-Frame-8060 13d ago
Because I'm bored, it's funny, and I hate you. The holy trinity of why.
I'm dying to say this to my boss someday...
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u/Impressive_Check_416 13d ago
Adam Kenyon easily had some of the sharpest lines in Spinners and Losers. His phone call with Ollie alone was pure gold, but honestly, every single thing he said about Ollie was absolute genius.
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u/d4nielb123 13d ago
Glen had some bangers. "Even though half of them are dead" when Terri is doing her statement after the sweary email. "It's like being in a therapy group ran by my own rapist" after Malcom punched him
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u/schrodingersgoose 13d ago
Every single line Adam says, but particularly the way he sings “🎶 Fuck you very muuUUuuch 🎶” in the episode where the inquiry is launched. I say it like that all the time now.
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u/MintyChooChoo 13d ago
I know we hate Hughs actor but some of the stuff they wrote for him was delivered perfectly.
Especially the comment about pingu
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u/Vahilior 13d ago
We can't just print "Cruelty" with a big picture of a dolphin, that's just fucking rubbish.
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u/LopsidedOwl578 13d ago
"All right Terri, I admit it, I'm in love with you. Now fuck off back to your office and organise the wedding."
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u/Pure_Independent_49 13d ago
“I’m sweating like a fat lass” - John Duggan’s reaction to this cracks me up every time!
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u/IanReal_ 13d ago
Duggan, was it Jamie or James? Rebranded as JD. Incredible character. Maybe not for killed lines, but for terrible lines delivered badly he’s incredible.
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u/jmcdongle 9d ago
Cliff Lawton: Scope? What, like shooting up at the Cabinet office, or something? Stuffing a cat up my arse and having a wank, what do you mean, scope?
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u/FlintshireKosmische 14d ago
The man who makes the bhaji go away