Twenty Twelve

Video: Olympics used for new comedy

Actress Jessica Hynes stars in a new comedy about a PR team trying to sell the Olympics to the public. The show, called Twenty Twelve sees Hynes play Siobhan Sharpe, an efficient yet slightly clueless PR manager.

Jessica spoke to BBC Breakfast about the series and why the Olympics is a good backdrop to write a comedy.

Twenty Twelve: London landmarks as Olympic venues

Following the recent announcement of several exciting 'landmark' venues for 2012 Olympic sports, the Twenty Twelve offices have been inundated with several letters wanting to know how the decision over which landmarks to use was reached.

Review - Twenty Twelve, BBC4

London lurches ever closer to the 2012 Olympics, and this new BBC comedy showcases the hapless bureaucrats trying hard to make the Games a triumph.

There were some a nice moments, like the countdown clock that ran backwards from 2012 to the present day. The joke was particularly piquant because the following day in what we still touchingly call "real life", the actual 2012 countdown clock broke down.

But aside from Hugh Bonneville as the ODC's stressed boss and Jessica Hynes as an aggressively dim PR, the characters were not precisely enough drawn, relying instead on types and tropes from The Office. Even so, it was worth it for the running joke of suitable candidates to be the national torchbearer. The winner was Gok Wan.

Twenty Twelve, BBC4, Monday

It's not the grinning, it's the taking part.

A False Start for 2012

Comedy can sometimes be too realistic, almost painful. Twenty Twelve (BBC4, Monday) was funny but cringe-making, too, as it followed the travails of the Olympic Delivery Committee in a mock documentary.

Stick the fantastically funny spoof documentary Twenty Twelve on BBC1 or BBC2 and we'd have a guaranteed smash hit on our hands. So what do they do? Relegate it to the ratings wasteland of BBC4. ­

Starring dazzling duo Hugh Bonneville and Jessica Hynes, this ­hilarious Olympic farce is must-see TV.

Twenty Twelve is a timely satire following the travails of the fictional team behind the 2012 London Olympics. The mockumentary has been chronically overused of late, but Twenty Twelve can be forgiven, firstly because it works so well and secondly because writer/creator/ director John Morton pioneered the format with the brilliant People Like Us.

The show charts the many catastrophes, both large and small, that already beset the Olympic project long, long before any spike disturbs the asphalt or a javelin is hurled in anger.

Finding a sustainable use for a Tae Kwon Do stadium, sorting out traffic congestion, dealing with obstinate artists, channeling Boris Johnson's enthusiasm and launching a faltering countdown clock are amongst the challenges of episode one. In a delicious case of life imitating art, the actual 2012 countdown clock broke down on the day of its unveiling, shortly after the satire was broadcast.

Hugh Bonneville provides star power as project leader Ian, but every scene is shamelessly stolen by Jessica Hynes as ignorant, neurotic, gibberish-spouting public relations guru Siobhan. David Tennant, meanwhile, provides the straight-faced narration.

Babble-gush as the Olympic clock ticks

It's sharp, and can make you wince, but it can't be hilarious because there is no central monster, as there is in The Thick of It.

BBC denies Olympics comedy stole from Australian show

Writers claim Twenty Twelve 'copied' ideas from show that aired in runup to 2000 Games and they later pitched to BBC.