W1A
Cast & Key People
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Our Review
The BBC takes the piss out of itself better than anyone, and W1A is the finest example. Hugh Bonneville’s Ian Fletcher leaves Twenty Twelve’s Olympic deliverance chaos to become the BBC’s Head of Values, a job that seems to consist entirely of meetings about meetings, synergy, and finding the right person to have a conversation about whether a conversation is needed.
The supporting cast is a masterclass in corporate satire: Jessica Hynes’s brand consultant Siobhan Sharpe and her fee-paying “yeah, no, absolutely” entourage, Jason Watkins’s utterly useless Tracey, and Monica Dolan as a continuity announcer turned reluctant PA who steals every scene with a single syllable.
Three short seasons, and like all great mockumentaries it plays 100 percent straight, so the absurdity never winks at you. It nails exactly how large institutions talk when they have run out of things to say. Our score: 8/10. Perfect double bill with Twenty Twelve or a natural entry point if you like your comedy dry.
