W1A Episode Guide, BBC Cast List and Hugh Bonneville Video Preview

Image Credit: BBC/Jack Barnes

W1A (from left to right): Simon Harwood (JASON WATKINS), Siobhan Sharpe (JESSICA HYNES), Tracey Pritchard (MONICA DOLAN), Ian Fletcher (HUGH BONNEVILLE), Will Humphries (HUGH SKINNER), Lucy Freeman (NINA SOSANYA) and Anna Rampton (SARAH PARISH) – Image Credit: BBC/Jack Barnes

W1A is a brand new BBC Two comedy series whose start date has been set for 10:00pm on Wednesday the 19th of March, 2014.

W1A, which will run for 4×30 minute episodes, follows on from the series ‘Twenty Twelve’ with  former Head of the Olympic Deliverance Commission, Ian Fletcher (played by Hugh Bonneville), beginning a new chapter of his life as the BBC’s Head of Values, a key and very specific new senior post, which was created in the light of recent learning opportunities at the Corporation.

The shows title comes from the London postcode for BBC Broadcasting House, which is W1A 1AA.

Episode Guide

Episode 1 – Wednesday, 19 March, 2014 – BBC Two

Ian’s first challenge at New Broadcasting House is to find somewhere to sit in a building aggressively over designed around the principle of not having a desk. Ian finds himself holding a hot potatoe when Mebyon Kernow activist Nigel Trescott complains that Cornwall and the Cornish are shamefully under-represented on the BBC.

Meanwhile, producer Lucy Freeman has meetings with Head of Output Anna Rampton and Entertainment Format Creative David Wilkes about a forthcoming new flagship show ‘Britain’s Tastiest Village’.

Anna wants a progress report and there’s good news and bad news. They’ve virtually got Alan Titchmarsh on board now, but the very bad news is that it looks like they’ve lost Clare Balding.

Episode 2 – Wednesday, 26 March, 2014 – BBC Two

Ian’s mission to take the sting out of what is now being referred to as ‘Wingategate’ continues as he journeys to Salford for his first big interview in the job with Jenni Murray on Woman’s Hour, where he faces tough questions around the BBC’s apparent ageism and sexism regarding the appointment of female presenters.

Meanwhile things are getting complicated for the Britain’s Tastiest Village production team – having wooed and won Carol Vorderman as Clare Balding’s replacement to co-present the show with Alan Titchmarsh, they have discovered at the very last minute that Clare Balding is available after all.

Episode 3 – Wednesday, 2 April, 2014 – BBC Two

A month into his new job as Head of Values, Ian Fletcher is still trying to find somewhere to sit. But there are more important issues to get to grips with – not least the director-general’s desire to shape the debate as to what the BBC is really for.

Head of Output Anna Rampton already knows what it’s for and in a thinly veiled move to further her own career advocates moving Songs Of Praise to radio, thus freeing up a prime slot for her own series, Britain’s Tastiest Village.

Controller of Current Affairs, Neil Reid, has to deal with the fallout from a blunder in the BBC News coverage of the Syrian crisis when a photo of Trudi Styler is used instead of Asma Assad.

Meanwhile, intern Will Humphries is given something important to do by the object of his desire, Izzy – a task he’s keen to do right. Producer Lucy Freeman attempts to pitch Home Truth, a script which she’s been developing over several years with writer Dan Shepherd.

But it’s Siobhan Sharpe and her team at Perfect Curve that find themselves given the biggest challenge when they are asked to refresh the BBC logo.

Episode 4 – Wednesday, 9 April, 2014 – BBC Two

A national newspaper not only publishes details of Ian salary but also runs a follow up story of how he miss-used funds by taking his Olympic Deliverance Commission PA on holiday to Italy. Will the Beeb stand by their man or try to avoid potential criticism by persuading Ian to reduce his own salary.

Meanwhile, when her legs receive their very own Twitter account, a female Newsnight presenter gets accused of wearing inappropriate clothing.

Brand consultant Siobhan Sharpe and her Perfect Curve PR team reveal their barnstorming, no letters idea for the BBC’s new logo, and ‘appointment to view’ TV series Britain’s Tastiest Village has now lost all three of its targeted big name hosts, meaning the search must go on.

W1A Cast List

Narrator – David Tennant

Character – Actor/Actress

Ian Fletcher – Hugh Bonneville

Siobhan Sharpe – Jessica Hynes

Anna Rampton – Sarah Parish

Lucy Freeman – Nina Sosanya

David Wilkes – Rufus Jones

Nigel Trescott – Simon Greenall

Sally Wingate – Karen Ascoe

Will Humphries – Hugh Skinner

Neil Reid – David Westhead

Izzy Gould – Ophelia Lovibond

Jack Patterson – Jonathan Bailey

Ben Rosenstern – Max Olesker

Jerry Guildencrantz – Ivan Gonzalez

Adam Brady – Laurence Howarth

Simon Harwood – Jason Watkins

Tracey Pritchard – Monica Dolan

Barney Lumsden – Alex Beckett

Mark Stephenson – Justin Edwards

Elaine Pearson – Elizabeth Berrington

Indira Sahni – Amani Johara

Carol Voderman as herself

Clare Balding as herself

Jenni Murray as herself