Binge Guide: After 'Downton,' See Hugh Bonneville in 'W1A'
As Downton Abbey prepares to shut its doors on Mar. 6, fans will have to seek out new ways to spend time with our favorite upstairs and downstairs residents. For example, Michelle Dockery a.k.a. Lady Mary will be donning contemporary clothes for her new TNT drama, Good Behavior, this summer, while Sophia McShera (a.k.a. Daisy) just wrapped up the second season of ABC’s medieval musical, Galavant. And if you’re already feeling a severe absence of Lord Crawley from your life, just head over to Netflix to see Hugh Bonneville in a very different kind of leadership role.
In the hilarious behind-the-Beeb BBC comedy, W1A, Bonneville stars as Ian Fletcher, an earnest but hapless government flunkie who has recently been named Head of Values at England’s enduring TV institution. So what exactly does a “Head of Values” do? Well, nobody — including Ian — is quite sure. But that’s par for the course at this version of the BBC, where incompetence appears to be at the top of the employees’ to-do list. Here are five things to know about W1A before you pick up your visitor’s binge watch pass.
The Title is Also the Postal Code of the Beeb’s HQ
Since 1932, the BBC’s home base has been Broadcasting House, an Art Deco landmark nestled in Central London. That location awards it a coveted W1 postal prefix, London’s answer to 90210. (Letter writers take note: the Broadcasting House’s full code is W1A 1AA.) And the series also films in the actual hallways and offices of Broadcasting House, an art-imitating-life scenario that real-life BBC employees have commented on. That means while Bonneville is shooting a scene for a current season of W1A, a few offices down, network higher-ups may be discussing whether or not to greenlight another year.
It’s a Sequel Series
Before he was put in charge of managing the BBC’s values, Ian Fletcher headed up the government agency responsible for ensuring that London was prepared to host the 2012 Summer Olympics. His misadventures in mis-management were chronicled in the mockumentary series, Twenty Twelve, which ran on the BBC for 13 riotous episodes, ending right before the real Games began. On the strength of that series, the network gave creator John Morton the chance to bring Fletcher back in a new capacity. You don’t have to have seen Twenty Twelve to enjoy W1A, but there is one storyline that carries over into the sequel show’s first season: Fleming’s simmering attraction to Sally Owen (Olivia Colman), his devoted personal assistant when he was on the Olympic Deliverance Commission. As we come to learn, it’s a relationship that apparently didn’t have the happiest of endings. Twenty Twelve isn’t currently available to stream, but the full run can be purchased on Amazon or iTunes.
Jessica Hynes is a Comic Treasure
Bonneville’s befuddlement is an endless source of amusement on W1A, but many of the show’s biggest laughs are courtesy of spacey BBC brand consultant Siobhan Sharpe, played to perfection by Jessica Hynes. British comedy devotees will instantly recognize Hynes from her two season run on the cult TV series, Spaced, which also launched the careers of Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright. Like Ian, Siobhan originated on Twenty Twelve, and Morton made the wise call to bring her back. Steel yourself for the fourth episode of the first season, when Sharpe’s team unveils their…um, unique design for a new BBC logo.
The Narrator’s Voice Should Sound Familiar
Because genteel narration is part of the BBC documentary brand — think David Attenborough telling you all about life on Planet Earth — Ian’s exploits at Broadcasting House are summarized and lightly mocked by an unseen third party. The owner of that voice is none other than BBC pin-up and former Doctor, David Tennant, who we like to imagine observing the hero’s foibles from his own BBC-issued TARDIS.
Will Humphries Is Our Spirt Animal
Of all the strange personalities that Ian has to manage at the BBC, the strangest is Will Humphries (Hugh Skinner), the kinda-sorta intern whose conversational manner resembles a form of Millennial beat poetry. Will’s eager-beaver obliviousness has made him a fan favorite, and even earned him the endorsement of a British politician when it appeared his internship had expired without his knowledge. As he would say, “Yeah, um, yeah, cool, um…what?”
W1A is currently streaming on Netflix
