W1A is a British television comedy series that satirises the management of the BBC. It was created by John Morton, and first broadcast on BBC Two on 19 March 2014. The series is the follow-up to Twenty Twelve, a BAFTA-winning comedy series by the BBC about the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. It sees the reintroduction of Hugh Bonneville and Jessica Hynes as their Twenty Twelve characters, alongside a new cast, with David Tennant's role as narrator also continuing from the earlier series. Jason Watkins and Nina Sosanya also returned from the cast of Twenty Twelve, albeit in new roles.

The first series began on 19 March 2014, concluding on 9 April. A second series was announced later in 2014 which launched on 23 April 2015 with a one-hour special. In August 2016, Radio Times announced that W1A had been recommissioned for a third and final series, which began airing on 18 September 2017.

The series is named after the postal code of the BBC's headquarters, Broadcasting House, which is W1A 1AA.

Bonneville and Hugh Skinner later reprised their characters in Twenty Twenty Six.

Plot The series revolves around Ian Fletcher (Hugh Bonneville), formerly the Head of the Olympic Deliverance Commission, who has been chosen to be the Head of Values at the BBC. His task is to clarify, define, or redefine the core purpose of the BBC across all its functions and to position it confidently for the future. The series deals with the everyday events at the corporation, and how the team deal with these. Such events include the arrival of Prince Charles, problems surrounding a new programme entitled Britain's Tastiest Village, as well as media scrutiny of Ian Fletcher's salary, the decision to cut the BBC Big Swing Band (which turns out to be beloved by all) and a cross-dressing ex-Premier League football player who wants to be a television pundit but is terrible at it.

Theme music The theme music is Las Vegas by Laurie Johnson, also familiar in the UK as the theme music for Animal Magic. It was composed in 1960 for the KPM music library.Laurie Johnson. Las Vegas, KPMLPB8 (1960)

Cast

Character Portrayed by Position Series Series 1(2014) Series 2(2015) Series 3(2016) Webisode(2020) Special(2024) Main Ian Fletcher Hugh Bonneville Head of Values colspan="5" Siobhan Sharpe Jessica Hynes BBC Brand Consultant, Head of Perfect Curve colspan="3" colspan=1 colspan="1" Tracey Pritchard Monica Dolan Senior Communications Officer colspan="5" Simon Harwood Jason Watkins Director of Strategic Governance colspan="4" colspan=1 Anna Rampton Sarah Parish Head of Output (S1–2); Director of Better (S2–3) colspan="4" colspan=1 Lucy Freeman Nina Sosanya Producer (S1–2); Head of Inclusivity (S2–3) colspan="3" colspan=2 Will Humphries Hugh Skinner Intern (S1–2); PA to Ian Fletcher (S2–3) colspan="3" colspan=1 colspan="1" Neil Reid David Westhead Controller of News and Current Affairs colspan="1" colspan="3" colspan=1 David Wilkes Rufus Jones Entertainment Format Producer (S1–2); Senior Executive – Primetime Factuality (S2); Commissioning Editor – Primetime Factuality (S3) colspan="1" colspan="2" colspan=2 Izzy Gould Ophelia Lovibond PA to Simon Harwood (S1–2); Development Producer (S2–3) colspan="1" colspan="2" colspan=2 Jack Patterson Jonathan Bailey PA to Anna Rampton & Exec in Betterness Development colspan="1" colspan="2" colspan=2 Recurring Jerry Guildencrantz Ivan Gonzalez Digital Strategist colspan="3" colspan=2 Ben Rosenstern Max Olesker Digital Strategist colspan="3" colspan=2 Matt Taverner Daniel Ings Head of Generic Comedy and Drama (S1–2); Head of Output (S2–3) colspan="3" colspan=2 Dan Sheppard Tom Basden Writer of Home Truths colspan="2" colspan=3 Barney Lumsden Alex Beckett Ideation Architect at Perfect Curve colspan="3" colspan=2 Coco Lomax Sara Pascoe Trend Analyst at Perfect Curve colspan="2" colspan="1" colspan=2 Karl Marx Joel Fry Viral Concept Designer at Perfect Curve colspan="2" colspan="1" colspan=2

Bonneville reprises his role of Ian Fletcher from W1A's predecessor, Twenty Twelve, as does Hynes, who plays Siobhan Sharpe, the Head of Perfect Curve, a brand consultant agency. Also returning are Sharpe's team, consisting of Barney Lumsden, Coco Lomax and Karl Marx (Beckett, Pascoe and Fry, respectively), whilst the remainder of the cast were created by Morton as new characters.

Cameo/guest appearances

Alan Yentob (2014, 2015; 2 episodes) Carol Vorderman (2014; 2 episodes) Salman Rushdie (2014; 1 episode) Olivia Colman (2014; 1 episode) Matt Addis (2014; 1 episode) Jenni Murray (2014; 1 episode) Clare Balding (2014; 1 episode) Evan Davis (2015; 2 episodes) Samuel West (2015; 1 episode) Alex Jones (2015; 1 episode) Matt Baker (2015; 1 episode) Sarah Hadland (2015; 1 episode) Sophie Raworth (2015; 1 episode) Mary Beard (2015; 1 episode) Jeremy Paxman (2017; 1 episode) Gary Lineker (2017; 1 episode) Alan Shearer (2017; 1 episode) Lenny Henry (2017, 2024; 2 episodes) Hugh Grant (2017; 1 episode) Rose Matafeo (2017; 1 episode) Claudia Winkleman (2017; 1 episode) Tony Hall (2017; 1 episode) Tom Davis (2024; 1 episode) Mo Farah (2024; 1 episode) Chesney Hawkes (2024; 1 episode) Wynne Evans (2024; 1 episode) Lorraine Kelly (2024; 1 episode) Rustie Lee (2024; 1 episode) Richard Madeley (2024; 1 episode) Romesh Ranganathan (2024; 1 episode) Lenny Rush (2024; 1 episode)

Production W1A was commissioned by Janice Hadlow, controller of BBC Two, and Shane Allen, controller of comedy commissioning. Filming began in January 2014. W1A was written and directed by John Morton, who previously worked on Twenty Twelve and People Like Us. The producer is Paul Schlesinger and the executive producer is Jon Plowman. A second series was commissioned in September 2014, with Bonneville's return also confirmed.

Episodes

Series overview

Series 1 (2014)

Series 2 (2015)

Series 3 (2017)

After the transmission of Episode 1 on BBC Two Episode 2 was made available on BBC iPlayer on 18 September 2017. Likewise after the transmission of Episode 3 on 2 October 2017 Episode 4 was made available online. This was repeated for episodes 5 and 6.

Webisodes (2020) In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, a number of specially created webisodes featuring the characters from W1A were produced. The first was released on 19 May, when Hugh Bonneville, in character as Ian Fletcher, introduced the BBC Concert Orchestra performing a new arrangement of Las Vegas, the series' theme tune. On 21 May, a second video was released, this time featuring Bonneville, Sarah Parrish, Jason Watkins, Monica Dolan and David Westhead at the first virtual meeting of the BBC's 'COVID-19 Bounce Back Group'.

Awards and nominations Year Award Nominee Category Result 2015BAFTA TV AwardsJessica HynesBest Female Performance in a Comedy ProgrammeHugh BonnevilleBest Male Performance in a Comedy ProgrammeRTS Craft & Design AwardsRobin HillBest Tape and Film Editing: Entertainment and Situation ComedyWriters' Guild of Great Britain AwardsJohn MortonBest TV Situation Comedy2016BAFTA TV AwardsHugh BonnevilleBest Male Performance in a Comedy Programme

References

External links