Hugh Bonneville

Sometimes you watch a comedy and think "this is clever, isn't it?" and then you realise that, actually, you're not laughing all that much. So it was with W1A (BBC Two), a sort-of sequel to Olympics spoof Twenty Twelve that switches the satirical spotlight on to the BBC itself.

Look at us, we're the BBC and we can laugh at ourselves, is the subtext as David Tennant's arch voice-over guides us around BBC HQ in a maze of corporate speak, introducing us to a grazing herd of corporate types with a remit to think Big Thoughts and babble nonsense about 'appointment to view' television.

In the middle of it all, doing his dazed labrador thing, returns Hugh Bonneville's Ian Fletcher, this time as the BBC's new Head of Values, which seems to be exactly the same job as Director of Strategic Governance, played with obsequious brilliance by Jason Watkins, a comic actor of impressive versatility.

So far, so potentially side-splitting. Somehow, though, the in-jokery felt a touch too pleased with itself. A scene where Fletcher stumbled in on Salman Rushdie and Alan Yentob in the middle of an arm-wrestle bout was telling, a bit like that first day in a new job when someone says: "You don't have to be mad to work here but it helps" and you cringe, thinking: "Get me out of here now."

Let's not sound too harsh: W1A is ingeniously scripted, painting a neat picture of a culture where covering your back is number one in any ambitious individual's skill set. And things really picked up when, belatedly, Jessica Hynes returned as nightmare PR Siobhan Sharpe, a character so deliriously loathsome it really is funny. Whereas seeing a BBC run by bumbling idiots is merely believably bothersome: after all, we're paying for them.

W1A walks fine line but it is lovingly done

From John Morton, the writer who brought us Twenty Twelve, comes W1A, in which Hugh Bonneville reprises his role as Ian Fletcher, now the new Head of Values at the BBC, tasked with thinking big thoughts and finding a 'Way Ahead' for the corporation.

'W1A' episode 1 review

Never mind Downton, Ian Fletcher is Hugh Bonneville's finest hour, a sweet Everyman, full of aspiration about getting to the end of the day in one piece, but tragically confounded by such things as lack of desk, a corporation too big and a bike too small.

Beset as ever by crises, the BBC needs some kind of standards tsar. Luckily, London 2012 hitch-resolver Ian Fletcher (Hugh Bonneville) has been appointed as head of values, at least within this mockumented universe terraformed by the Twenty Twelve team. There's also time to dip into the tribulations elsewhere within New Broadcasting House, in a manner familiar to those who enjoyed the misadventures of the Olympic Deliverance Commission.

He delivered the Olympics. Now, Ian Fletcher, the go-to man for looking mildly baffled by the madness of bureaucracy, has another big job on his hands: defending the BBC. Or, more accurately, he's the Beeb's new Head of Values, whatever that means. Who cares, when it entails the reunion of Twenty Twelve's Hugh Bonneville and Jessica Hynes? The latter is back as deliciously vacant PR Siobhan Sharpe, now posting selfies from around the meeting-room table. As Fletcher tries to find a desk to put his feet under, he's whisked off on a round of meetings about meetings. The tone is spot-on from the start and David Tennant's narration is the cherry on the cake.

Radio Times review

This new sitcom was born out of the success - but necessarily short shelf life - of the delicious Twenty Twelve. The idea of the BBC making a satire on the workings of the BBC is painfully circular but also, as it turns out, painfully funny.

Even so, the show walks a tightrope. In one scene here, Ian "So that's all good" Fletcher (Hugh Bonneville), now the BBC's newly appointed Head of Values, is hunting for a meeting room at Broadcasting House. He opens a door to find Alan Yentob and Salman Rushdie arm-wrestling while listening to opera. It's both a hilariously daring in-joke and the kind of thing you hope they keep in small doses. Too many knowing winks at the audience could get precious.

There are other celebrity cameos, but the joy of the show, as with Twenty Twelve, is the bland corporate-speak, the ability of conversations to progress with nothing being said in a flurry of Yes-no-absolutelys and Right-goods. This is writer John Morton's special gift (he's been doing it since People like Us on Radio 4) and he does it better than anyone.

The makers of Twenty Twelve were lauded for their Olympics satire, but no one was likely to mistake it for a factual programme. The same can't be said for sure about their latest venture, W1A, which pokes fun at the BBC. The Sun reports that Sarah Parish, who plays an inept head of output at the Beeb, reckons the spoof drama may be so realistic viewers won't know that the whole thing is meant to be a joke. The series also features Hugh Bonneville, who will again play Ian Fletcher, with the character moving from the Olympic Legacy project to the BBC to help it deal with "recent findings". All sounds a bit familiar. Parish said: "I did think people might watch and, for 10 minutes, think it's a documentary." Fingers crossed for a cameo from John Humphrys.

Hugh Bonneville interview

"We were filming in the lobby the other day, 20 of us milling around, and the chaps on the doors were chuckling watching us do it. Then I tried to get back inside to get changed and they wouldn't let me because I didn't have the right pass," Hugh Bonneville recalls.

Hugh Bonneville on bringing blue-sky thinking to BBC

"I did have to giggle to myself when I found a producer hiding in a stairwell trying to do a deal with some contributor on the phone because it was the only place to get a bit of privacy. I think the idea of being able to go to your own thought-space in the BBC is probably a thing of the past."

W1A lends a further comedic lease of life to Ian Fletcher (Hugh Bonneville) from the hit sitcom Twenty Twelve. The former Head of Olympic Deliverance has been appointed the BBC's Head of Values, with Twenty Twelve's PR guru Siobhan Sharpe (Jessica Hynes) trailing in his wake.

The rest of the cast and characters are all new, but the mockumentary format, inane narration, understated performances and comedy of social embarrassment are retained from Twenty Twelve.

Episode one got off to a very strong start, with Fletcher ineffectually grappling with such thorny issues as Cornish under-representation, Clare Balding dropping out of a proposed Countryfile/Bake Off hybrid show and the total absence of any desk or office to work out of. However, he hasn't tried to close BBC3 down, so at least that's in his favour.