Jargon-filled press release confirms the news

Filming is to start on the third series of W1A next month, the BBC has confirmed.

 Hugh Bonneville will return as the BBC’s head of values;  Sarah Parish as head of output, and Jessica Hynes as PR guru Siobhan Sharpe.

The six half-hour episodes will air on BBC Two later this year and focus on the BBC's need to cut costs. 

And the Corporation tonight released a spoof press release to announce the news, in the spirit of the programme.

It said: ‘The cameras will be following Ian and his team during and post-Charter Renewal reacting to the BBC's new mission statement of doing More Of Less, which as Anna Rampton, Head of Output, describes as being about "Putting what we do best front and centre and about identifying better ways of doing less of it more".’

And it quoted   Fletcher saying: ‘We are lucky to have the cameras back at an exciting time for the BBC. In a period where we're looking to identify as many Creative Efficiency Opportunities as possible we've been faced with some tough choices, but the good news about that is that in lots of ways tough choices are actually easier than easy choices because there are fewer options to choose from so that's all good.’

The release also quoted some real executives getting into the spirit of things.

Shane Allen, controller of comedy commissioning, said: ‘It’s commendable that the team are able to increase the funniness of this series by 20-25% year on year with just 54% of the original budget. This beautifully crafted series provides the answer to the age old phrase: "If these walls could speak’" in our case it turns out they’d talk bollocks.’

Patrick Holland, channel editor of BBC Two, added: ‘I tried to kill this but Tony thought we should push ahead...a brilliant comedy gem returns to Two."

And Chris Sussman, head of comedy at producers BBC Studios, says: ‘Good communication is one of the cornerstones of the BBC, and I'm extremely pleased to be finding out about this series via this press release.’

Published: 25 Jan 2017