10 Scariest Characters In Non-Horror TV Shows

Sometimes, a horror movie monster is no less than what the protagonists deserve. Armando Iannucci’s revered Westminster sitcom The Thick Of It focuses on the middle tier of Britain’s corridors of political power. Its main characters are government lifers, ambitious MPs, and their advisors.

Unsurprisingly these are a fundamentally grasping, dishonest bunch, willing to say, do, and think anything to stay in, or gain, the hot seat. Into all this comes a fire breathing killer in the form of a lanky Scotsman in an off-the-peg suit.

Peter Capaldi’s Malcolm Tucker was a masterpiece of sitcom characterisation from the off, a perfect mixture of performer and writer. Few can sell Iannucci’s lines like Capaldi - it’s a cacophony of noise and rage, every third word a swear, florid rants that, in lesser hands, would sound completely ridiculous.

Tucker should be the villain, but he’s not; in fact, he’s the one sane man in the business, often the only competent person on our screens, tasked with whipping these idiots into shape. He’s a tradesman, and his tools are sharp, wounding words.