Sympatico

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.

score 6/10

Prismark10 8 July 2015

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3272602/