W1A
W1A
TV-14 | 19 March 2014 (USA)
SEASON & EPISODES
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1
  • 0
  • Reviews
    Ava-Grace Willis

    Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

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    Kaydan Christian

    A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

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    Mandeep Tyson

    The acting in this movie is really good.

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    Billy Ollie

    Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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    simon-894

    This works as a short sketch only. It is a single gag that is repeated ad nauseam and after only three episodes I could take no more. It is painful to watch and frankly not worthy of fine actors, Hugh Bonneville and Jessica Hynes. For example, the conference suite scenes have the same structure and outcome every time - only the dialogue (such that it is) varies. The Head of Security character is unbelievable and just isn't funny, the Intern is just annoyingly hopeless. Several scenes are just a waste of time and banal in the extreme. It's altogether unbearable and unfunny.

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    tom_long2

    episode to understand, appreciate, and get over this show. WIA is spot on satire, but it's annoying a f.This is a show about nothing in much as Seinfeld was a comedy.Dialogue goes as such: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.Right. Okay. Exactly.Uh. Well, yes. Yes, exactly.No, no, that's fine.It's probably better, yes.It's not even jargon. It's circular corporate speak of a vapid culture that unfortunately is today and most likely worse tomorrow and so on.Good but infuriating, watch one episode only unless you actually want to throw your remote at the screen (or your hand-held device at someone else).

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    Prismark10

    From the makers of Twenty Twelve which starred Hugh Bonneville as Ian Fletcher the rather out of his depth Head of Deliverance for the 2012 London Olympics. He now returns as the bumbling Head of Values at the BBC since he managed to deliver the Olympics successfully. He also teams up again with Jessica Hynes, now the shallow PR chief at the BBC with daft ideas.David Tennant returns as the narrator, deadpan and times certainly literal.After a rough few years where an incoming BBC director general lasted a few weeks, the Charter renewal the BBC decides to turn the gaze on itself for comedic effect. Of course you have endless meetings where we meet the sycophants as well as the schemers and you quickly feel that Ian is out of his depth again as mad corporate ideas are floated around. You had episodes where he had no desk to sit on or even a room to hold a meeting, trying to evade various media backlashes such as when his pay grade was made public and even managed to get lost at the BBC building when an important royal visitor is arrived.The stand out character was Will, the gormless intern only fit for bringing the coffee and carrying a fold-able bike.However by the second series I felt the series ran out of steam. Tennant's narration became predictable and so did some of the characters and their mostly annoying ways, quirks and catchphrases. It did not even run to the full six episode series which indicates that the writers had run out of material. Still Ian Fletcher did manage to get his act together and amaze everyone at end with his delivery.

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    Mouthbox

    "You're aware that you're at the centre of something genuinely important, and the exciting thing is to think that part of the job is establishing where that centre is, and what it's in the middle of." It's hard to parody something that's already a parody of itself, so W1A (BBC2) – the BBC's bizarre and surreal mickey take of its own corridors of power – must be viewed in context.Because the sad truth is that the real-world BBC is far more bizarre and surreal than this fairly tame spoof, and the only real mickey take in the equation is the way the real Beeb behaves while claiming to serve its hard-working license payers.BBC2′s continuity announcer accidentally introduced W1A by calling it a "new drama." A Freudian slip, no doubt, by a BBC staffer on the brink of insanity.Noel Edmonds went on Newsnight this week and announced that he wants to buy the BBC. Remind me, was that in the spoof version of the corporation or in the real-world BBC? It's almost impossible to tell.I've worked for the BBC many times, in many different roles, so I suppose I should have found W1A hilarious. However, it was so close to the truth that all the programme actually succeeded in doing was to remind me of the anger, frustration and helplessness I felt while working there.Most of the meetings really are a ridiculous waste of time. Many of the managers genuinely are pointless, poorly informed, time-servers who are only interested in protecting their own interests. Verbal communications skills are virtually non-existent in many Social Media-obsessed staff, and the curse of hopping from hot desk to hot desk means it's impossible to hold a meaningful conversation or concentrate on anything at all in your own space.W1A is written by the same team who brought us the brilliant Twenty Twelve. David Tennant's back as the deadpan and slightly puzzled narrator, and Ian Fletcher (Hugh Bonneville) moves from Head of Deliverance at the Olympics to becoming Head of Values at the BBC. Jessica Hynes also returns as Siobhan Sharp, the air-headed PR guru.There are many new faces as well, notably Jason Watkins as the slimy and grinning Head of Strategic Governance, and Hugh Skinner as Will – the intellectually challenged intern who seems to struggle with even the most basic of tasks. Will's epic mental battle in delivering two cups of coffee to their recipients was one of the highlights of the first episode. I suspect his character will rise swiftly through the ranks and will probably end up as Director General if the show runs long enough.Just as David Brent was far too painful to watch if you worked in an office, W1A may be a little too much for many BBC staff to endure. Alan Yentob and Salman Rushdie arm-wrestling in a meeting room? Remind me, was that in W1A, or did I see it on this week's Newsnight?

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