Iannucci is bleeping not happy

Armando Iannucci has admitted he was not happy that BBC America reneged on a deal to show The Thick Of It without bleeping out all the swear words.

The writer and director - whose new HBO political comedy Veep is about to air on Sky Atlantic - revealed he had been promised The Thick Of It would be repeated in a later slot without bleeps.

The hit comedy's ferocious spin doctor Malcolm Tucker, played by Peter Capaldi and inspired by former Labour aide Alastair Campbell, is famous for his expletive-filled rants.

Armando revealed: "What I thought was happening was it was going out at about nine o'clock bleeped, and at midnight unbleeped.

"That's what I thought was happening - and they reneged on that.

"Somebody told me the bleeped version is actually quite frightening - you just think 'what are they saying?'

"But fingers-crossed we're about to do a deal that the whole catalogue of The Thick of It will go out in America unbleeped."

Armando has just finished filming the new series of BBC show The Thick Of It and is already writing a new series of Veep, which is about to have its first series aired on Sky Atlantic.

He revealed he had researched US swearing habits for Veep, set in Washington and starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the Vice President, and admitted that Americans swear less than Brits.