Second series for Olympic sitcom

BBC Four’s Olympic comedy, Twenty Twelve, has been commissioned for a second series.

The first series of the show, about the ‘deliverance team’ working behind the scenes on the games ends next week, and has so far attracted an average audience of 360,000.

The series prompted Lord Coe, who is in charge of the actual preparations, to comment: "It's great that a comedy view of what we're trying to do is being given".

The second series – to again be written and directed by People Like Us writer John Morton – will cover such delicate issues as how to handle the Algerian team's demand for a mosque in the Olympic village, how to carry out a legacy audit on the rival bids for the stadium and budgetary concerns.

BBC Four controller Richard Klein said: ‘Twenty Twelve is deliciously topical, wickedly funny and sometimes uncannily close to real life. It has quickly captured the imagination and shows that, above all, the British don't take themselves too seriously.’

However, the show – which stars Hugh Bonneville, Jessica Hynes, and Olivia Colman – has not been without controversy.

The creators of Australian sitcom The Games, about the run-up to the Sydney Olympics, claimed the show had been plagiarized after they had been in discussions with Morton and producer Jon Plowman.

However, the BBC said Twenty Twelve was ‘original and distinctive’ and claimed ‘the allegations are without foundation’.

The show also hit the headlines when the Olympic countdown clock in Trafalgar Square malfunctioned, echoing a sitcom storyline.

Published: 15 Apr 2011