W1A

It was a genuine delight to hear, once more, the strains of the Animal Magic theme as W1A returned for a third series. One of the joys of watch-again is that, in addition to the more garish tropes to which we're now used - the folding bikes, Monica Dolan's perpetual Welsh whining, Jessica Hynes's PR gorgon - one can find, in almost every 30 seconds, unlooked-for subtleties. David Westhead as Neil Reid, the one-man Greek chorus whose muttered "bollocks" says, in sadly splendid isolation, what we're all thinking, and the more hidden verbal tics from deadpan narrator David Tennant: "the department for culture, media and also for some reason sport"... "assistant of some sort Will Humphries".

Incidentally, did you notice Dolan in Strike, playing the wrongly jailed wife? True skills, to turn from blistering darkness to high comedy over two nights. W1A continues to draw flak, roundly undeserved: too BBC-smug, too London, too hugging of itself, too versed in PR knowingness, too not-Brexit. I revere it as a brave commission, and a gleeful and celebratory use of most of the best comedy actors and improvisers of the last decade, surely a golden age, and long may it continue: at least until a massive backdrop of caustic creator John Morton appears on one of the walls, at which point the BBC can officially be proved to have eaten itself.

W1A review - the Way Ahead is behind and it's brilliant

The returning mockumentary send-up of the BBC is very funny at times, if a bit smug. Perhaps it should sharpen its daggers and look at Auntie's pay gap...

W1A: Why this final series might be the best yet.

I'm just a little upset that this is the final series as, from what I've seen, W1A is arguably the BBC funniest comedy that's currently on screen and I'm just wondering if the reason its leaving the screens is because of Morton's ability to spoof the company that's actually in charge of recommissioning his brilliant sitcom.

John Morton: W1A - Nothing worthwhile is easy

John Morton, writer and director of W1A, discusses how he came to set his sights on the BBC for the hit series, and how he tried to avoid writing a follow-up to Twenty Twelve.

Preview - W1A

Reports claim that the new series of W1A may be the last one, so this might be the last time we get to enjoy Hugh Bonneville as Ian Fletcher.

Brilliant. Exactly. The merciless spoof of the Beeb by the Beeb is back for a new series. It's the year of Charter renewal and the perfect excuse for a round of meetings in which the art of saying nothing at length is spun out with semantic ingenuity by the scriptwriters. Meanwhile, Siobhan's Perfect Curve group has been bought out by Dutch group Fun Media. Not entirely sure about the sub-plot about a footballing cross-dresser, however.

W1A series three preview

There are moments in W1A that are almost too agonising to watch. The circuitous meetings of the BBC's directionless yet ironically named Way Ahead group so accurately replicate the prevarications of real corporate life that you can feel the knuckle-gnawing frustration from your own sofa.

The idiocy of Siobhan Sharpe has infected office life

If you work in an office where the walls are made of glass and where brightly coloured, comfy "break-out" areas outnumber actual desks (by which I mean, if you work in the media), chances are you'll have come across a Siobhan Sharpe.

Like the BBC W1A series 3 is easier to admire than love

"How about a BBC News forecast app? Like the weather forecast but with emojis. Each day, it'll be, like, Italy: smiley face. Syria: droopy mouth. Russia: angry face." Unfold your Brompton bike because W1A (BBC Two) was back for a third series of self-reflexive BBC satire and management gobbledegook.

Hugh Bonneville interview

"If you are in the creative arts you're not allowed an opinion". The W1A star on the BBC, Donald Trump, and cleaning loos as a teenager.