Three series of W1A gleefully sending up the BBC came to an end on Monday (October 23) with the airing of its series finale.
An outstanding cast led by Hugh Bonneville, Jessica Hynes, Rufus Jones, Sarah Parish and Ophelia Lovibond (and don't forget narrator David Tennant!) have been bumbling their way through the Beeb since 2014, as a continuation of the equally-hilarious Twenty Twelve.
However, all good things must come to an end… and sometimes the ending comes with an avalanche of very bad things piling on top of each other. That was the basic size and shape of Monday's swansong, penned by series creator John Morton.
All series long, viewers have watched the BBC's Head of Values, Ian Fletcher, and his staff avoid near certain disaster in developing the online platform BBC Me. In Monday's swansong, it was time for the big launch!
However, a sudden shake-up in the BBC meant that Ian's team were all looking for new jobs just as it was time to take BBC Me public, adding yet more confusion to the already deeply-confused damage limitation group's plan of action.
Meanwhile, the group were also panicking over trying to nail down Claudia Winkleman's new BBC contract — which was jeopardised when an insulted Claudia found out that the format of her new show On Your Bike was also being developed for Amanda Holden! How rude!
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By episode's end, everything was looking brighter as Anna departed the team to work for (and probably mess up) Amazon in Los Angeles, Claudia inked a new BBC deal, BBC director Tony Hall got locked in the TARDIS during the BBC Me launch and Izzy finally gave Jack a slap.
Ian even got to deliver an inspiring BBC Me-themed speech at the big launch party: "As time passes. The Me will change. The You will change. But the speaking together will remain."
Was this bittersweet finale the right way for W1A to bow out? At least according to those following along on Twitter, the answer was definitely yes (no, exactly):
While it's very sad that W1A is bowing out, star Ophelia Lovibond recently reasoned with Digital Spy that it makes the most sense to end the comedy series while it's still at the top of its game.
"I haven't spoken to John about it, but I think it's just such hard work," she explained.
"There was a bit of a gap between the second and third series, because it does take a long time to put it all together. We all love doing it, but we got the vague sense that it was the last one [while filming]."
Goodbye, W1A. We'll miss you nearly wrecking the Beeb each week.
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Justin is a freelance entertainment journalist and writer. He first joined Digital Spy as a freelance entertainment reporter in 2010 and also worked as a sub-editor for the brand, serving as Night News Editor from 2016 to 2024. Over more than a decade, Justin has covered numerous major entertainment events from the US and has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo. He's written for titles across the Hearst network, plus the likes of CBR and Us Weekly.
