Armando Iannucci has said that coronavirus has left him with a “creative dilemma” that is forcing him to reconsider the plot for an upcoming series of his TV programme.
The writer and director told The Big Issue that the second series of his comedy Avenue 5 features a “chaotic fight for survival led by a broken leadership among dwindling supplies”.
However, he added that he is now not certain whether the public want to hear jokes on the subject of “death lotteries” in the current climate.
The Thick Of It creator said: “I used to be more positive. When businesses all around me began seizing up I felt enormously thankful my work was something I could easily do from home and for which I’d always assumed there’d be a terrific demand.
“Then I looked at the work I was doing.
“I’m in the middle of getting scripts ready for the second season of Avenue 5, my show for HBO and Sky.
“It’s set in the future and involves six and a half thousand people on an eight-week space cruise round Saturn suddenly finding out, because of a glitch, they’re going to be stuck there for eight years.
“The first season went out just as cruise liners in the present day became floating pandemics.
“Now, looking ahead to what we’re planning for season two – a chaotic fight for survival led by a broken leadership among dwindling supplies – I’m wondering whether people are ready for jokes about death lotteries.”
He said that he is still “grateful” for the work, adding: “My creative dilemma isn’t worth a macaque’s anus set against the daily trauma being faced by millions across the country.”
Iannucci also told the magazine that the future “will be coloured by our experiences of this extended now”.
He said that his “one small fragment of optimism” is that the pandemic will “step up our appreciation of others”.
“If that happens, then it may not be the time yet for jokes, but it will definitely be something to cheer,” Iannucci said.
The full interview is in The Big Issue, which is out now on their app as vendors are not able to sell the magazine on the streets.