Acclaimed political satire The Thick of It returns for a long-awaited fourth and final season this weekend, and we’ve got a selection of pictures from the new run to celebrate.

The show, which focuses on fictional representatives of both major parties in UK government, was created by Alan Partridge‘s right hand man Armando Iannucci back in 2005, running for three series and a two specials by December 2009.

Since then, the reputation of its cast – led by Peter Capaldi, but also featuring Chris Addison, Joanna Scanlan, Rebecca Front, Justin Edwards, Ben Willbond and Alex MacQueen – has gone through the roof, and pining them all down for a fourth series must have been quite a challenge!

Reflecting changes in our own society, Series 4 sees Capaldi’s deliciously sweary Malcolm Tucker now tasked with making his party look good as The Opposition, and facing a major inquiry into political practices.

You can see the first episode at 9pm on BBC Two this Saturday, 8th September, and it will be available on iPlayer shortly after transmission. For pictures, including quite a lot of Ealing Live and Horrible Histories star Ben Willbond, look a bit lower than this sentence.