W1A premiere review: BBC's self-flagellating satire finally hits its stride

When held up to the heady heights of its BAFTA-winning spiritual predecessor Twenty Twelve, the first series of W1A fell short on occasions.

But with a new series opener in which a high-level management power struggle starts simmering alongside the usual japes, hi-jinks and gaffes at Broadcasting House, the BBC's self-flagellating satire is at last hitting its stride.

Hugh Bonneville's still the star of the show as Ian Fletcher, keeping a sharp focus on charter renewal as his contemporaries in the Way Ahead Task Force fall over themselves (almost literally at one point) to get one over on their professional rivals. There's whispers of a new senior post at stake, and everyone seems to have their eye on it.

Following his fall from grace at the end of the last series after a newspaper sting exposing both his handsome salary and close relationship with his former Olympic Deliverance Commission PA Sally, Ian averts crisis on the day of a big royal visit from Prince Charles by keeping calm and thinking on his feet. Bonneville brings a mix of warmth, world-weariness and resourcefulness to the part that has you on Ian's side from the start as for once in his life, things seem to be going right.

Ian's dynamic with lovely Lucy (Nina Sosanya) is slowly building too, and whether they remain merely professional allies or get personal, there's something about their alliance that gives you a bit of hope for humanity.

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Meanwhile, over at Perfect Curve, brand consultant Siobhan Sharpe (Jessica Hynes) is still as wonderfully grating and watchable as ever, and her supporting players are given a meaty new project - rebranding the BBC's coverage of Wimbledon over a game of 'idea tennis'. To be honest, what they come up with isn't quite the Jubilympics.

In scenes that prove Nathan Barley was well (and truly) weaponised some time ago, infecting wider creative culture, there's talk of having Graham Norton "up in the players' box" (oh my), and Siobhan's trifecta of minions are finally put to good use with renditions of some classic BBC themes over a ping-pong table.

When Siobhan pitches her plan later in the episode, it doesn't go down well until she plays a surprising trump card that piques everyone's interest - even combative Tracey (Monica Dolan), who would probably prefer watching a marathon of David Wilkes' new light entertainment format idea Heavy Petting than admit Siobhan is possibly right about something.

All around the Way Ahead Task Force table, the rest of the cast are growing into their characters now - whether it's terse news and current affairs chief Neil Reid (the wonderfully morose David Westhead) muttering "bollocks" at periodic opportunities, or Simon Harwood's (Jason Watkins) patronising, toe-curling asides ("Yes, no, very strong.").

Awkward, nice-but-dim intern Will Humphries still feels like the weak link. That's not a reflection on Hugh Skinner's portrayal, but the limited scripting of (and scope for) his character.

Even when Will is given something genuinely useful to do like tape logging, the joke feels one-note and recycled from previous plotlines. Showing him the door is probably a good move in terms of keeping the dynamic fresh.

There are swipes this week at both ITV and Freeview channel Dave but as always, the corporation does not get off lightly, with Neil lamenting "it's the BBC, it's always about damage limitation" during a Way Ahead Task Force meeting "up in Frankie Howerd" (ooh-er).

The much talked-about skewering of Jeremy Clarkson is made even funnier with post-production edits to reflect his ignominious exit from the BBC last month (the episode was filmed long before that now-infamous "fracas").

One Show hosts Matt Baker and Alex Jones provide a cheeky cafe cameo, there's a throwaway reference to "a silent opera with Alan Yentob", and Ian and Simon's continuing pissing contest over who knows "Tony" best still entertains - especially in this week's context of the royal visit.

There's even space for a very, very subtle nod to It's A Royal Knockout in a tense pitch meeting between permanently enthusiastic entertainment producer David (Rufus Jones) and ice-cold, deliciously blunt head of output Anna Rampton (Sarah Parish), whose three favourite phrases still seem to be "yes", "no, I'm sorry" and "shut up".

David Tennant's narration is still hilarious - equal parts cosy, matter-of-fact and absurd (case in point: "But suddenly, as can sometimes happen on days when nothing can go wrong, it does"). And how often can you say that the narrator has the best one-liner of the entire series so far? ("This week, there have been complaints about his use of the word 'tosser' in the hit BBC Two sitcom Top Gear.")

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But the key to W1A's appeal is that so much of the comedy could translate to so many settings outside the BBC - whether corporate doublespeak like "better than different", nondescript job titles like "Director of Better" (or "Director of Thingy," as Lucy puts it when she accidentally tips Ian off about the new role), or dilatory head of security Dave Green (Andrew Brooke) becoming a prisoner of his own zonal lockdown procedures and malfunctioning IT systems (Syncopatico is still not being very syncopatico, locking the royal greeting party in the director general's office moments before HRH's arrival).

Making the premiere an hour-long special is a deft move and although John Morton expressed some concern about the extended timeframe at the show's press launch, there was no need for him to worry.

In its first series, W1A often felt like it was trying to do too much in 30 minutes, and breaking from the restrictive half-hour format allows the dynamics between characters to develop more organically, with longer set-pieces. As Ian himself would say, it's all good.

Kate Goodacre

Kate (they/she) is a freelance writer, editor, digital editorial trainer and data technician who first joined Digital Spy as an overnight freelance sub-editor in January 2011, after studying a postgraduate diploma in journalism at Salford University while working part-time as a social researcher.
In July 2013, Kate joined the DS staff team as chief sub-editor and following six years as the site's managing editor, their role expanded to incorporate Hearst UK's entertainment portfolio (including Digital Spy and its sibling titles Best and Inside Soap) between late 2024 and early 2026.
  Kate has worked as a writer and editor since 2006, with bylines syndicated across the Hearst network and at organisations including Metro. They started their career as a TV production runner for the BBC and contributed to various music websites, blogs and zines while based in Manchester.
  During her time at DS, Kate has previously been a freelance sub-editor and chief sub-editor.
  Kate's team at Digital Spy were proudly nominated in the Best Subbing/Production Team category at the BSME Talent Awards 2022. Over the years, she has contributed to coverage of many, many Prime Days and Black Friday/Cyber Monday, and was part of the team that launched the DS weekly TV newsletter in November 2019 – followed by the Top of the Shops e-commerce newsletter in May 2024.
   Kate's screen passions include Taskmaster (their biggest career regret remains turning down the opportunity to visit the house), nature documentaries, and live sport (up there with the greatest of all soap operas although if asked to choose, it's Corrie… every time).
   Her highlights while working at DS have included interviewing Stevie Nicks on the red carpet for her documentary In Your Dreams, sitting at a press roundtable with Formula 1 commentary icon Murray Walker, watching a life-sized LEGO car being driven around Silverstone, writing an album-by-album retrospective of Lady Gaga's genre-defying career for Living Legends, and raising awareness of receiving and understanding a late-in-life ADHD diagnosis through the lens of Bianca and Freddie's EastEnders storyline.
 Upon remembering to log off the internet, Kate enjoys live theatre, dance and comedy, appreciating nature, baking (badly), tending a recently-rented allotment (equally badly) and pampering one very spoiled rescue cat named Jolene.
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