Political satire showstopper The Thick of It won't be coming back for a fifth series, but creator Armando Iannucci has a very good reason why.

Starring Peter Capaldi as no-nonsense Downing Street hack Malcolm Tucker, The Thick of It first premiered in 2005 and went on to gather a cult following.

Iannucci had previously said series four would "probably" be the last, but now he's stuck a final nail in the coffin.

BBC

Speaking to NME about the release of his movie The Death of Stalin on DVD, Iannucci discussed his future plans as the subject turned to The Thick of It.

It turns out, he couldn't retread the comedy grounds of the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship because it is just a little too realistic these days.

"It's not on my agenda, no. If we came up with up with an episode where the Prime Minister was coughing throughout her speech while the letters on the wall behind her were falling off, you'd think 'no, that's just basic'. We'd shred that storyline," he revealed.

BBC

"I'm so dumbstruck by what's happening. We have a government that thinks it has the luxury of fighting amongst itself when it doesn't command a majority – whose idea of doing a deal with Europe is just to tell Europe what to do and then be surprised that 26 other countries are saying no. It's beyond any attempt to even try to explain it comedically."

As well as seeing his haphazard creations come to life before his very eyes in the current No. 10, you could argue that Iannucci should let the show end on a high.

And considering that the cast got their own feature film thanks to 2009's In The Loop, you can see why Iannucci might be hesitant to return. With rave reviews, the black comedy is one of those rare occasions when a movie version of a TV show is arguably even better than its source material.

Dubbed the 21st century's version of Yes Minister, The Thick of It was constantly branded as extremely funny and intelligent. So maybe we should just leave it that way?

Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Twitter account and you're all set.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io