Season 1
W1A is a British satirical mockumentary television comedy series created by John Morton as a follow-up to Twenty Twelve which follows former Head of the Olympic Deliverance Commission, Ian Fletcher (Hugh Bonneville), at the start of a new chapter of his life as Head of Values at the BBC, a key and very specific new senior post, which has been created in the light of recent learning opportunities at the Corporation.
Ian's task as Head of Values is to clarify, define, or re-define the core purpose of the BBC across all its functions and to position it confidently for the future.
Upon arrival, Ian feels that there is something very exciting about the BBC and that he is now at the centre of something genuinely important. The really exciting thing is to think that part of his job is to try to establish where that centre is and also exactly what it is in the centre of.
However, Ian will not be alone, as he is joined by a number of other BBC colleagues who are also already there and will ultimately join him on the journey towards Licence Fee Renegotiation and Charter Renewal. Reith was then, this is now.
As Ian begins his new job, he encounters a problem. Despite the job having been sold to him as a chance to influence and shape one of the Great British Institutions, he soon realises that not only does he not have time to think big thoughts, he never has any time to think any thoughts at all.
To make matters worse, Ian soon discovers that the board has also decided to hire PR company Perfect Curve's Siobhan Sharpe as the 'Ginger Rogers to his Fred Astaire'.
Massaging presenter egos, deftly handling a BBC 'Anti-Cornish Bias' scandal and breaking through mindless creative meetings is all in a day's work for Ian and the team.
Hugh Bonneville plays Ian Fletcher, Jessica Hynes plays Siobhan Sharpe, Sarah Parish plays Anna Rampton, Jason Watkins plays Simon Harwood, Monica Dolan plays Tracey Pritchard, David Westhead plays Neil Reid, Nina Sosanya plays Lucy Freeman, Rufus Jones plays David Wilkes, Hugh Skinner plays Will Humphries, Ophelia Lovibond plays Izzy Gould, Jonathan Bailey plays Jack Patterson, and Max Olesker and Iván Gonzalez play Ben Rosenstern and Jerry Guildencrantz.
W1A is written and directed by John Morton (Twenty Twelve, People Like Us), produced by Paul Schlesinger and executive produced by Jon Plowman, the team behind Twenty Twelve. It is a BBC In-House Comedy production.