WIA
B OX S E T
Comedy writer John Morton’s followup to his BAFTA award-winning series Twenty Twelve which lampooned the bureaucracy behind preparations for the London 2012 Olympics, WIA is a similarly trenchant satire on people who have meetings about having meetings.
Set at the BBC, it takes a sideswipe at the pretensions of certain sections of the media industry – it’s all here: the manoeuvring, the insincerity, the fawning, the ruthless ambition. Hugh Bonneville is on fine hapless form returning as Ian Clayton, formerly Head of the Olympic Deliverance Commission, appointed as Head of Values at the BBC with the brief to redefine the BBC’s purpose for the future. Jessica Hynes appears once again as PR guru Siobhan Sharpe. Meeting rooms are named after famous stars of the past which gives rise to wonderful lines such as: “I’ll meet you in Frankie Howerd in half an hour”. With nice dry mockumentary narration from David Tennant and cameos from the likes of Olivia Colman, Alan Titchmarsh and Clare Balding, it’s hugely entertaining.