Satirist Armando Iannucci has said he will take becoming a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) as a signal to keep defending public broadcasters from “attacks on independence and funding”. The 60-year-old Scottish writer and director, who was behind the foul-mouthed Westminster sitcom The Thick Of It, was named in the King’s Birthday Honours for services to film and television. He has worked on hit shows such as the BBC’s I’m Alan Partridge and HBO’s Veep, which saw him move into US television, along with movies such as The Personal History Of David Copperfield.
The Thick of It creator Armando Iannucci after receiving an honorary degree from St Andrews University, to become an Honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt) (Jane Barlow/PA) “It’s the best in the world, yet weirdly I’ve been spending more and more of my energy defending our public service television from attacks on its independence and funding. I’ll take this award as a cue to keep going. He added it had been a “huge surprise” and was “delighted”, saying: “But as with all awards, you know, I’m very happy to receive them, but I feel that they shouldn’t affect what you do next”.
In 2022 he backed the Channel 4 Ain’t Broke campaign in 2022 amid plans at the time to look at privatisation of the broadcaster, and has also previously urged the Government to stop reducing the funding of the BBC. The corporation has been under pressure due to its licence fee being frozen and the increase by �.