Jessica Hynes

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.

Jessica Hynes is strangely silenced in new mockumentary

I wouldn't say W1A is a disaster; it suffers from having to follow Twenty Twelve and other BBC series - in particular The Office even a decade on, and The Thick of It.

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.

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.

Radio Times review

Radio Times makes a cameo in the first of the stories here. It's a cautionary tale, Richmond Hammond informs us - attempting an ominous smile. It's also a silly one: a postman becomes the perfect boyfriend by reading someone's mail.

Second in the storytelling chair is comic actress Jessica Hynes, who is much better at sinister. Written by Holly Walsh, it's about a woman who wakes up hung-over to find her eight-year-old self staring at her from the foot of the bed. This one is more satisfying, although is more likely to give you nightmares than fits of giggles.

Jo Brand & Jessica Hynes perform in Big Comedy Special

Jo Brand, Jessica Hynes, Richard Herring and Jon Richardson are to appear as part of a charity comedy night at the Hammersmith Apollo in London.

Margaret (Jessica Hynes) sends Emmeline Pankhurst a "comical" poem, which prompts a visit from the suffragette leader, despite Pankhurst (Sandi Toksvig) concurring with Helen (Rebecca Front) that the poem is "not strictly speaking comical". Margaret claims that "it gets funnier", and Hynes here could almost be describing her own sitcom: this final episode is the best, with the group trying to impress their guest with a talent showcase, and Helen revealing the real reason behind her opposition to the cause.

Modern feminists can learn a lot from Up The Women

Many of the questions faced by the women's movement today are played out in Jessica Hynes' new show. In a world where feminism still viewed by many women with distrust, wariness and even alarm, there's a lot we can learn from the ladies of the Banbury Intricate Craft Circle Frankly Demands Women's Suffrage.

My love of Jessica Hynes in Up the Women

My God, it's adorable, this series. Admittedly, it starts slowly: the first episode is sweet but a bit unfunny, mainly because the situation has to be set up before the jokes can flow. However, I've seen the second episode and that is funny. Properly funny.

Despite the impeccable credentials of everyone involved (Jessica Hynes, Rebecca Front, Vicki Pepperdine), Up The Women just doesn't fly. For a start, there's no real point; any political edge is sidestepped or dampened by the air of farce. And the humour itself is limited to double entendre, sight gags and broad physical comedy. Why couldn't the BBC have just commissioned a full series of Hynes and Julia Davis's scabrous Lizzie and Sarah instead?