So, like, here's the thing guys, right?

W1A (Series 2), BBC

The second series of W1A, the BBC’s comedy satirising its own inner workings, which ended on Thursday night, prompted more wry smiles than belly laughs, but amongst the catchphrases and corporate frustrations were odd scenes that made me laugh out loud.  In the final episode, it was the meeting to discuss inclusivity; a cringe-worthy conversation you can imagine taking place in many public sector organisations.  The meeting produced such gems as Monica Dolan's Head of Communications Tracey Pritchard clarifying whether the T in LGBT stands for Transvestite or Transgender and David Westhead's Current Controller of News and Current Affairs Neil Reid querying whether, because the News department had a higher percentage of BAME staff than the general population, it would have to sack some Black and Asian personnel.  Highlights from the previous three episodes included a free lunchtime yoga session and a meeting to brainstorm ways in which to make the BBC’s Wimbledon coverage “ethnically not so much white.”

The fact is though, that this is in area in which they could be better, to borrow a line from Sarah Parish’s stony-faced executive Anna Rampton.  By the end of the final episode, the clever narration and repetitive catchphrases had been overused and began to grate.  (Though, sadly, who hasn’t had those colleagues who repeat the same meaningless phrases over and over?)

For someone who has worked in a large organisation, struggling with layers of incompetent middle managers, endless acronyms and incomprehensible room-booking systems, W1A is depressingly realistic.  The meeting where the ‘Way Ahead Task Force’ attempts to pin down the exact function of the new Director of Better was strangely reminiscent of many lengthy sub-committee meetings.  But, unfortunately, knowing smiles are often the most reaction the programme provokes.

Hugh Bonneville's long-suffering Head of Values, Ian Fletcher, chairs a meeting 

in one of the New Broadcasting House's 'Innovation Spaces'

The BBC advertised the position of Director of Better on its website as a promotional April Fool before the second series began, but unfortunately no one seemed to get the joke, despite the job description requiring the applicant to “have experience of knowledge” and be capable of “summarising large volumes of innovation”, demonstrating just how terrifyingly true-to-life W1A really is.  Highlighting the corporation’s flaws is in someways a commendable attempt on the part of the BBC to poke fun at itself, but it may also be shooting itself in the foot at a time when it is under such intense scrutiny from politicians.

Despite its flaws, W1A is great piece of comedy, with excellent turns from Jessica Hynes as jargon-spouting PR Consultant Siobhan Sharpe (“We’re nailing jelly to the hothouse wall”) and Rufus Jones as idiotic entertainment format producer David Wilkes (“Can I just say: I can feel the wand of history passing over us”) in particular.  Although Series 1 dolled out more laughs, W1A undoubtedly remains one of the funnier comedies on the BBC at the moment.