BBC Two Commissions Follow-Up to Twenty Twelve

LONDON: BBC Two has planned a follow-up to the BAFTA-winning comedy Twenty Twelve with the newly commissioned W1A.

Hugh Bonneville plays Ian Fletcher, the ex head of the Olympic deliverance commission, who is now taking on the role of head of values at the BBC. The series is not envisioned as a sequel to Twenty Twelve, but rather will feature new situations and characters but with the same comedic DNA.

Writer John Morton said: “It isn’t a demolition job on anybody or anything, and it isn’t one giant in-joke, and this isn’t a game of guessing who is supposed to be who. If it is satirical then it’s satirical about an environment, an ethos, and the absurdities of modern corporate life itself. The key principle is to operate at a level of reality just to the left or the right of fact, to create stories that haven’t actually happened but that could happen or might have happened.“

Janice Hadlow, the controller of BBC Two, commented: “Twenty Twelve was one of BBC Two’s stand out comedy hits last year and I’m absolutely thrilled that John Morton and the fantastic off-screen team are coming together again as well as some of our most loved characters from the first series.”

Mark Freeland, the head of BBC in-house comedy, added: “This is a kind of love letter to the BBC. But a letter that gets mislaid, because the remote computer system is not working and the head of recovery at the BBC is stuck in a blue sky brainstorming session in a meeting room that's been double booked and anyway, the bean bags have gone missing.”