Hugh Bonneville

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.

Hugh Bonneville interview

Hugh Bonneville explains why the corporation is right to show its sense of humour.

Hugh Bonneville interview

TV Choice met Hugh Bonneville, who plays Ian, at the BBC's New Broadcasting House in central London where W1A is also filmed. So that's all good!

Hugh Bonneville locked out of BBC whilst filming W1A

Hugh Bonneville reveals that life imitated art recently when a doorman refused him entry to BBC Broadcasting House while he was filming upcoming satire W1A.

Two US actors and a stiff upper lip grace Norton's studio tonight as Matt Damon, Bill Murray and Hugh Bonneville drop in to give us the lowdown on their roles in George Clooney's The Monuments Men.

Quirky songbird Paloma Faith turns on the funk in the studio with her latest single, Can't Rely On You. If you can't wait until tonight, here's a rollicking live version doing the rounds online that was recorded in a kitchen, complete with backing singers and an acre of tartan.

Hugh Bonneville may star in Mrs Brown's Boys film

Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville is being lined up to star in a film based on Mrs Brown's Boys.

Michael Frayn's latest novel Skios is a side-splitting comic delight, which takes in almost every sub-genre from drop-your-pants farce and slapstick to verbal jokes and a satire of intellectual poseurs. Published last year, the book was criticised for over-reliance on farce at the expense of characterisation, but this adaptation, by Archie Scottney, provides more balance to the competing elements.

Hugh Bonneville plays scientist Dr Norman Wilfred with only a little of the weary grandiloquence the actor cultivated on Downton Abbey. Wilfred arrives on a Greek island to give a speech to a cultural foundation, but his place has been assumed fraudulently by Oliver Fox, played with blase charm by Tom Hollander.

Thwarted seductions alternate with Fox's pseudo-philosophical assertions, lapped up by an adoring coterie that dare not declare that the emperor - like several of the cast - isn't wearing any clothes.

Jon Glover brings the house down with his rendition of Spiros and Stavros, two manic cabbies whose question as to the identity of their passenger - "Fox Oliver?" - is taken for a talismanic local phrase. The question of identity and mis-identity is at the heart of the piece, although I couldn't help wondering why someone doesn't whip out their smartphone and unmask the interloper.

Hugh Bonneville plays Dr Norman Wilfred, eagerly awaited lecturer at an annual scientific meeting on the Greek island of Skios. But someone else turns up, passing as Dr Wilfred. This charming chancer is Oliver Fox (Tom Hollander). Meanwhile, Dr Wilfred is stuck in a remote villa with Georgie (Janie Dee), who has been sweet-talked by Oliver into spending the weekend with him, and no luggage. The script is by Archie Scottney, from the novel by Michael Frayn, the cast (which also includes Stacy Keach and Joanne Whalley) is as grand as you'd expect from those independents Jarvis & Ayres.

Gigglebox weekly #70

This Christmas Ian Wolf encounters a pong, kissing via TV and two doses of Hugh Bonneville.