Television series

Twenty Twelve

Name: Twenty Twelve
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2011
Cast: David Tennant, Hugh Bonneville, Jessica Hynes, Karl Theobald, Amelia Bullmore

Twenty Twelve is a gently deadpan mockumentary about the fictional team staging the London Olympics, narrated with weary amusement by David Tennant. It's less vicious than its political cousins, more interested in the comedy of jargon, impossible deadlines and PR spin than actual villainy. Warm, silly satire for people who like their bureaucrats hapless rather than evil.

If you liked this

W1A2014

The direct sequel: same creator John Morton, same deadpan narration, and Hugh Bonneville's Ian Fletcher now mangling jargon at the BBC instead of the Olympics.

But It's more of the same trick in a new building, so if the style didn't grab you the first time, it won't here either.

The Thick of It2005

A sharper, filthier cousin from the same satirical tradition, trading gentle bafflement for Malcolm Tucker's screaming fury at government spin and incompetence.

But Much more savage and sweary, with none of the cosy affection Twenty Twelve has for its useless heroes.

The Office2005

The mockumentary blueprint everyone since has borrowed from, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's original study in cringe, delusion and small workplace ambition.

But The cringe is more personal and painful, with less of the institutional absurdity Twenty Twelve specialises in.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Waiting for Guffman1997

Guest essentially invented the deadpan mockumentary voice Twenty Twelve speaks in — swap the Olympics for a Missouri talent show and the structure, and the fond mockery of people who overrate their own competence, is identical.

Christopher Guest's mockumentary about a small-town theatre troupe convinced their tribute show is Broadway-bound, brimming with the same gentle comedy of hopeless, earnest overreach.

But A single film rather than a returning cast, and the humour is broader and sillier than Twenty Twelve's dry understatement.

Parks and Recreation2009

An American mockumentary about well-meaning bureaucrats trying to get things done against absurd odds, played much warmer and more sentimentally than its British relatives.

But The sunniness and earnestness can feel soft after Twenty Twelve's drier, more English irony.

Veep2012

Shares the fascination with spin and impossible targets, cranked into vicious, filthy farce inside the corridors of American political power.

But Much nastier and more cynical, with little of the gentle fondness Twenty Twelve shows its hapless team.

People Just Do Nothing2014

A British mockumentary about a pirate radio crew who are chronic overachievers of self-delusion, sharing that fondness for people convinced they're nearly succeeding.

But Scrappier and lower-budget in feel, and about one deluded crew rather than a whole institution.

Arrested Development2003

Proves the all-knowing deadpan narrator trick works just as well wrapped around a family as around a committee, with jokes stacked absurdly deep.

But Denser and faster than Twenty Twelve, and rewards obsessive rewatching more than casual viewing.

Documentary Now!2015

A loving, note-perfect spoof of documentary styles themselves, for anyone who enjoyed Twenty Twelve's straight-faced commitment to the format's clichés.

But Each episode is a standalone parody rather than an ongoing story, so there's no Fletcher-style team to follow.

Modern Family2009

Took the mockumentary confessional format mainstream, with the same talking-head asides, just aimed at a big American family instead of a doomed committee.

But Far glossier and sitcom-sweet, with the institutional satire that gives Twenty Twelve its bite mostly absent.

Chernobyl2019

Strip away the jokes and Twenty Twelve's engine — institutions managing crisis through denial, jargon and desperate reassurance — is exactly Chernobyl's; one plays it for laughs, the other for the terrible truth of how badly systems fail.

The same machinery of committees, deadlines and desperate spin, played entirely straight in one of the finest, most devastating dramas of the decade.

But This is grim, true and often unbearable; nothing here is designed to make you laugh, and it will sit with you for days.

Yes Minister1980

Twenty Twelve's whole comic universe of doublespeak, impossible targets and officials protecting their own reputations descends directly from this; watching it feels like meeting the show's grandparent.

The show that taught British comedy how funny civil servants and spin could be, decades before mockumentaries existed, all dialogue and still razor sharp.

But Shot like a stagey old sitcom with no documentary conceit at all, and its target, Whitehall rather than event delivery, is more abstract.