W1A

I found this very funny and very true. I worked at BBC Future Media (and other parts of the BBC) and recognise a number of these senior managers. The caricatures are not far removed from reality. On the creative side, you might think the show was cruel. Not really, they used to have weekly "creative sessions" in my kitchen area. There's nothing like the sight of desperate 40-somethings trying to come up with something young and hip to make you wish you were far, far away from the commissioning process and the necessary obliges noblesses! The meeting rooms, "Strictly Come Dancing" and "Top Gear" and so on, and Syncopatispace is beyond parody. This show is almost exactly like working there.

I suppose the natural career change for "2012"'s Olympics supremo Ian Fletcher was to an executive position at another of the great talking-shops, the BBC itself. Thus "W1A" continues very much in the footprints of its predecessor, with Fletcher at the centre of the middle of things at the Beeb, quickly becoming the spokesperson and whipping boy for a number of topical-at-the-time scandals at the corporation, involving regional discrimination and pay levels. Now with the Quango-esque title "Head Of Values" he's soon involved with a similar group of headless deadbeats talking lots but saying little in another amusing spoof comedy.

The problem for me was the too-similar format to "2012" right down to each episode starting with him turning up to work and attending morning meetings although this time there was much less emphasis on his private life. The supporting cast includes the excruciatingly on-point media guru Siobhan "Sure, great" from the show before and a bunch of colleagues not markedly different again to those before. Therein lies the problem, with the show somewhat lacking in freshness with not only the characters but some of the plot devices seeming a bit second hand. I also think more could have been done to make use of the real-life BBC talent available apart from the amusing spat between Clare Balding and Carol Vorderman to see who gets to partner Alan Titchmarsh in a new reality show "The Tastiest Village in Britain".

There are amusing moments for sure particularly when Siobhan attempts to rebrand the BBC for the Apps market and Bonneville leads a good cast who play their quirky characters to the hilt. Nice to see Olivia Colman in a cameo role too. All told though, the law of diminishing returns appears to be in action here although somehow it wouldn't surprise me to see Ian Fletcher in future park his fold-down bike at the biggest talking-shop of all the House of Commons in an as yet unwritten sequel to his latest misadventures.

Not sure an American audience would get this show as it very definitely reflects British cultural and social situations.

Only 3 seasons? Really?? Ah, I guess it's hard to keep a cast like this together for long. What seemed like pure silliness at first really grew on me. I really ended up caring about these characters. When I went to start the next season and discovered there was none, I was heartbroken.

A hilarious skewering of both the BBC and the mindset of corporate lackeys everywhere. Absolutely crammed with great characters, many of whom, in the British manner, have their distinctive and increasingly wonderful catch-phrases. It seems impossible that this got made by the same organization that is portrayed in the show, but it is very pleasing that it was. It's just a shame that the number of episodes per season is small even by UK standards.