Steve Coogan’s Baby Cow hires Iannucci

UK indie producer Baby Cow Productions has hired The Thick of It creator Armando Iannucci as creative director.

Iannucci, who also created and wrote hit comedy I’m Alan Partridge, will work alongside joint managing directors Steve Coogan and Henry Normal and will oversee shows including Gavin & Stacey, The Mighty Boosh and The Shadow Line.

Iannucci, who is also developing political comedy Veep for HBO, has famously eschewed opportunities to launch his own production company in the past, which makes his appointment even more interesting.

He told the Guardian newspaper in 2009: “No, it’s just that really, at the end of the day, I don’t want to have to have a conversation with the accountant. I remember Stephen Fry saying people go into comedy because they don’t want to work in an office, so why are they all setting up companies? That’s not what I wanted to do.”

He will be charged with attracting and nurturing new comedy talent for the production company, in which BBC Worldwide owns a 25% stake.

“Despite his inherent Scottishness, over the last twenty years I have been inspired by and collaborated with Armando Iannucci. His joining Baby Cow builds on that,” said Steve Coogan.