The Thick of It (TV Series)

Spinners and Losers (2007)

Polly Kemp: Robyn Murdoch

Quotes 

• Robyn Murdoch : The Mail's got hold of a story about Ben being racist to a cleaner and saying racist things!

  Terri Coverley : Yeah, and they're gonna run with a headline "Uncle Tom's Cabinet", which is gonna be a really big problem for us, actually, because it's a very very good headline!

  Ben Swain : I'm not a racist! I'm so not a racist! One of my best friends is an Asian! No, I know that sounds...

  Malcolm Tucker : [to Jamie]  You! That's it! I'm not standing for that! It's over! You're fucking a dead man walking!

  Jamie : You think I leaked this?

  Malcolm Tucker : What do you think I am, seven years old?

  Jamie : Kiss my bollocks, this has got nothing to do with me!

  [to Ollie] 

  Jamie : It was you!

  Oliver Reeder : No, it wasn't fucking me! Why would it be me? I thought we'd be working together in the new administration!

  Glenn Cullen : The new administration! Listen to the First Lady!

  Oliver Reeder : Shut up, Glenn. Shut up.

  Jamie : I've got it!

  [about Robyn] 

  Jamie : It was fucking Johnny Mitchel here, it was her!

  Robyn Murdoch : I've leaked nothing!

  Jamie : What are you talking about?

  Robyn Murdoch : Other than the incidental leak, obviously.

  Malcolm Tucker : [to Jamie]  I know it was you. You're a pint pot Judas.

  Jamie : It wasn't me!

  Malcolm Tucker : A pint pot Judas!

  Jamie : I'm five foot ten!

  Malcolm Tucker : Well, you don't feel that.

  Glenn Cullen : Malcolm. It wasn't him. It was me.

  Jamie : Oh, fuck off.

  Oliver Reeder : No way. No way.

  Glenn Cullen : I've been leaking for 27 years, I know how it's done. I leaked!

  Oliver Reeder : You don't leak! Well, not from the mouth, anyway.

  Malcolm Tucker : Just fucking shut up. At least this is Hugh's Glenn. All you are, mate, is fucking Ben's Glenn.

• Robyn Murdoch : I'm getting a lot of calls.

  Glenn Cullen : Well, you're Communications, Robyn, that does tend to happen.

  Robyn Murdoch : Don't do jokes, Glenn, you're not a funny man, you're not that type.

• Robyn Murdoch : I just don't know what to say when the bloggers and the diary writers hit me with "what about this rumor?". I'm just not comfortable lying.

  Terri Coverley : Oh for God's sake, Robyn. Bloggers! Just tell them to bloody well sod off to their grubby dingy little bedrooms.

  Robyn Murdoch : Now I'm getting calls about Geoff Holhurst, about him standing.

  Oliver Reeder : About Geoff? Calls about that already?

  Terri Coverley : Geoff Holhurst? For leader? That would be extraordinary, very bizzare, he's got such a tiny head!

  Oliver Reeder : You're right, actually, he's got a miniature head!

  Robyn Murdoch : Is Geoff's tiny head standing? Is he out in the cold?

• Robyn Murdoch : Someone has leaked some things about, you know, immigration policy and the computers and the Mail would like to know what our line is.

  Glenn Cullen : For fuck's sake, that's not a priority, stonewall it.

  Robyn Murdoch : But I can't just say...

  Oliver Reeder : Give them the cold cock, Robyn.

  Robyn Murdoch : What is the cold cock?

  Glenn Cullen : Look, nothing is happening on that tonight, ok? We've only got one fish-frier in here and we have a massive political fish to fry, ok?

  Oliver Reeder : Don't, under any circumstances, mention the massive political fish when you're talking to them!

• Malcolm Tucker : Where's Robyn? Robyn, come here! Quick! I'm bringing Jamie over to fire-fight this Watford story, so you'll be working with Jamie for the rest of the night, you take orders from Jamie. I want you to bury this Watford arsey tonight, because tomorrow morning - from broadsheets to wank rags - I want pages one, two and three to be a profile of Tom looking like a fucking political colossus, you know - Tom meeting the Pope, Tom in a NHS hospital chatting to little baldie kiddies. I want pages four and five to be a timeline of the last years of British politics with ME at the center, looking fucking indispensable and fucking benign, and I want page six to be fucking Israel or some bullshit, not a fucking DoSAC deepshit legacy-distracting COCKUP!

  Robyn Murdoch : It's just Jamie, I find him just a little bit frightening...

  Malcolm Tucker : Relax, he has never hit anyone! Or at least anyone he's hit has never had the bollocks to take it to a superior! It's a fucking joke, it's a joke, ok? The man is a professional, you will be fine!

  Glenn Cullen : Actually, Malcolm, we still have no word on Dan Miller, he's gone dark, he's not answering his phone...

  Malcolm Tucker : Maybe he's in a hotel with his own huddle! Ring around, try and find him.

  Glenn Cullen : What, ring every hotel in London and ask if Dan Miller's booked in?

  Malcolm Tucker : Yeah! Although he could be using an assumed name...

  Glenn Cullen : So, you want me ring round every hotel in London and ask if anyone of any name has booked in?

  Malcolm Tucker : Keep you busy! You know, you have to keep the mind active at your age.

  [to Ollie] 

  Malcolm Tucker : You! Walk my way. I need you to go over there for me. I need you at that hotel.

  Oliver Reeder : You wanna to have a loop.

  Malcolm Tucker : Fuck you, Andy-Pandy, I AM the loop. I want you in there for reason that will not become cleat to you for about 200 years so just do it. Specifically, see if any of Dan Miller's army are mincing in fish nettings and high heels. And I want updates every five.

  Oliver Reeder : Ok.

  Malcolm Tucker : Oi, and listen, get onto your ex at the Mail, allright? Tell her no fucker is standing, it all evaporated like cat's piss on a hot tin roof. Ok, twat-weasel? You got that?

  Oliver Reeder : Yes, thank you.

  [walking away] 

  Oliver Reeder : Malcolm Tucker, an investor in people.

  Malcolm Tucker : Yes, I heard that! Fuck you!

• Jamie : Have you been talking to Malcolm?

  Robyn Murdoch : No, should I have?

  Jamie : Who did you mention Cliff Lawton to, then?

  Robyn Murdoch : Only Terri.

  Jamie : For fuck's sake woman! What is your fucking problem? No no no, don't answer that, we'll be here all fucking night!

• Ben Swain : Right, Glenn, I'm gonna leave you to your switchboard duties.

  Glenn Cullen : Don't worry about us.

  Ben Swain : Back where the action is. Don't wanna miss a chance getting into Uncle Tom's Cabinet.

  Oliver Reeder : Ok...

  Ben Swain : Problems?

  Oliver Reeder : It's hammer-time. There's been a wild cat walkout at Watford Immigration Center. Whoever's leeking has told the press we weren't prepared to spend money on the repairs of the computer system. The Mail has told them that this department refuses point-blank to do or say anything about it, so the night shift walked out.

  Glenn Cullen : Robyn! What the fuck do you think you're doing?

  Robyn Murdoch : I cold-cocked! You said to! I said nothing was happening, I said nothing was going on here!

  Glenn Cullen : For fuck's sake, where did you learn that? The Civil Servant's school of telling the fucking truth?

  Robyn Murdoch : You said 'cold cocks'!

  Ben Swain : Ollie, I want you to deal with that. I'm gonna get back to the huddle. You get onto the press, tell them I'm all over it, I'm gonna instigate this spectrum-wide sweep of every espect of the... the thing, that I'm not being distracted by leadepship debates.

  Oliver Reeder : Yeah, no problem, Ben. I'll see you at the hotel.

  Ben Swain : Ahh... Yeah, sure, but get this done, we'll see.

  Oliver Reeder : Bring me back a tiny wee Fanta from the MiniBar.

• Jamie : Ok, the line is "Wildcat walkout, we'll be talking to the unions, it's too early to comment". Off the record, union neandarthals with brains the size of children's bogies couldn't take the heat of Hugh Abbot's ring-stinging shit hot public sector reforms, but he is flying back like Harrison Ford with a big whip in one hand and a skinny latte in the other and he is gonna whip six shades of shit out of them and save the world, ok?

  Robyn Murdoch : I think I've got that..."... six shades of shit..."

  Jamie : So, what are you doing?

  Robyn Murdoch : I'm just making a note of some of the things you said...

  Jamie : No, don't take notes, get on the fucking phone, start pumping the line, ok?

  Robyn Murdoch : Right.

  Jamie : Oh, hey, and don't look so scared, hey? It's gonna to be allright, I'm being polite, aren't I?

  Robyn Murdoch : Yeah, well, sort of.

  Jamie : Exactly, so get on it, you fucking hippie, or I will personally have you as a light supper.

• Robyn Murdoch : It's just Jamie, I find him just a little bit frightening...

  Malcolm Tucker : Relax, he has never hit anyone! Or at least anyone he hit has never had the balls to take it to a superior! It's a fucking joke, it's a joke, ok? The man is a professional, you will be fine!

• Robyn Murdoch : You said "cold cocks"!