Twenty Twelve

A maverick filmmaker isn't too happy with the decision to stage the equestrian events in Greenwich Park in tonight's final episode of the amusing sitcom which spoofs the organisation of the 2012 Olympics. Tim McInnerny plays the protesting filmmaker - who voices his concerns by dumping a large pile of horse manure outside the Deliverance team's offices. Meanwhile Ian Fletcher's (Hugh Bonneville) marriage unravels further and he finds himself locked out of his house.

Twenty Twelve to return!

Here at BBC Comedy HQ we've noticed a lot of love for Twenty Twelve, so we wanted to be the first to break the good news... Twenty Twelve will return for a second series.

Another Monday morning, another mismanaged mission by the Olympic Deliverance Commission. They have to select a curator for the Cultural Olympiad, but all three candidates prove unsuitable. Also, a decree comes down from Lord Coe that the team must enter the London Marathon - which leads to sore nipples for Fay, crutches for Siobhan and uncontrollable flatulence for Ian. After last week's misfire, Twenty Twelve is almost back on track, even if biting satire seems an ever-receding goal. I bet when Hugh Bonneville signed up, he never imagined his biggest laugh in this episode would be from parping in a lift.

True Olympic buffs won't be able to hear the theme music for this sitcom - Let's Face The Music And Dance - without thinking of Torvill and Dean having to settle for bronze in Lillehammer in 1994.

There's no such fancy footwork here in a series which makes you wonder what percentage of the energy that goes into hosting the Olympics has anything to do with sport itself. This week's debacle concerns a former Olympian called Dave Welbeck (a glorious turn from guest star Darren Boyd).

Dave has been roped in as the figurehead of an inspirational initiative called Raising The Bar, but his presentations to schoolchildren are so bafflingly inept, they're almost an art form in themselves.

All of which presents a major hurdle for the harassed Head Of Brand Siobhan Sharpe (Jessica Hynes) who has a wonderful way of seeming to talk through her eyelids.

Meanwhile, Kay's proposed wind turbine - aka The Angel Of Leyton - which is supposed to be symbolising their commitment to green issues has hit a brick wall.

This mockumentary is now half-way through its run, so we can now get a good idea of what it's truly like. My overall conclusion is thus - it's good, but not great.

There's a big problem with any mockumentary which can be summed up in two words: The Office. As soon as any new series comes up it's almost naturally compared with it, and because The Office was so prolific any similar show is cast in its shadow. People instantly say it is not original. In the case of Twenty Twelve, it's not just critics saying it, but the Australians claiming it's copying their sitcom The Games.

There are some problems with the show anyway, though. Just little things, but (for example) how come one of the main characters was not included in last week's episode? Some of the jokes are rather unsurprising, too, especially during the Ian Fletcher routine which felt so, so predictable.

There were some high points however. The highlight of last night's episode was Amelia Bullmore trying desperately to do a video blog which she kept messing up - though that's probably because, as a former media student, I know what it's like. I constantly kept fluffing my lines like Bullmore did, so I know that things like this do happen. It all ties into that fear of public speaking that most of us have, and it's a really clever observational piece.

The 2012 team engages ex-athlete Dave Wellbeck (Darren Boyd) to front their Raising the Bar scheme to inspire young people. Unfortunately, his school assembly presentations in Basingstoke and Warwick soon establish the silver medallist now only bores for Britain. If you're a connoisseur of that tranche of comedy that deals in excruciating embarrassment, you may lap this up. Otherwise, I fear you'll find this week's Olympian effort limp hobbling towards lame. Hugh Bonneville remains peerless as a sort of modern-day Ronnie Barker, and we could do with a bit more screen time for Olivia Colman as Sally, Ian's scuttling, "not a problem" PA.

Siobhan and Ian have another pointless meeting. Jessica Hynes really nails dead-eyed ennui as the half-wit PR consultant and Hugh Bonneville is perfectly pitched as the pleasant but ineffectual executive. And tonight, the superb Darren Boyd plays ex-athlete Dave Wellbeck, now an "Official 2012 Hero" charged with inspiring the nation's youth about sport. Olivia Colman continues to be consummately understated as Ian's PA, Sally. The writing is up there with Morton's other wondrous work, People Like Us, and wholly deserves primetime BBC2, not this hidden nook on digital. Perfection.

Have you been watching ... Twenty Twelve?

BBC4's Olympics mockumentary has an athletic gag-rate - it's well worth taking for a couple of laps around the track.

Twenty Twelve review: Lacking a certain someone...

On hearing of London's victory in the 2012 hosting race at the Beijing Olympics, Boris Johnson declared "Wiff waff is coming home!" , (referring to Ping Pong, invented in England), while Seb Coe p*ssed himself in the background. Twenty Twelve, more a gentle joshing than hard hitting satire, never quite grasps that the farcical core of our Olympics effort isn't the bureacracy, the Swastika-esque logo or the fatuous 'sustainability' plans - it's really just Bozzer Jozzer himself.