Terri Coverley

Terri Coverley is the Director of Communications at the Department of Social Affairs, a fixed point of weary competence amid the chaos ministers and spin doctors create around her. She processes each fresh disaster with flat, unshockable calm, more interested in going home on time than in appearing important, and treats Malcolm Tucker's fury as background weather.

Scanlan plays her as the one adult in the building, which makes her hilarious rather than dull — the show's satire needs someone unimpressed by power for the absurdity to register. Her deadpan, put-upon patience against the shouting men around her gives the series a stillness that makes their tantrums look even more ridiculous.