BBC hoping for comedy gold in Olympic organisers satire

IF laughter is the best cure for stress then Paul Deighton and his team could do worse than tune into a BBC comedy series that will parody their London 2012 preparations.

COMEDY GOLD: Courage, endeavour and heritage, how the BBC's comedy department envisage Paul Deighton and his London 2012 organising team (BBC Publicity)

With less than two years to go until the Olympics opening ceremony, you could forgive Locog's staff at their Canary Wharf headquarters from feeling a little frazzled under the ever increasing glare of scrutiny.

So news that the BBC - the Olympic broadcaster - are making light of their worries might come as some much needed relief.

'Twenty Twelve' has been shot in the style of mockumentary series 'The Office' and 'The Thick of It' and has been written by John Morton, whose other credits include People Like Us, which featured inept interviewer Roy Mallard.

The BBC says the six-part series - due to be screened later this year - will deal with 'such hot topics as how to phase the traffic lights across London to get people from west to east.'

Writers have also tried to make light of the process of selling a taekwondo hall after the Olympics, the search for someone to run the Cultural Olympiad and how wind turbines will operate in the absence of wind.

A BBC Four spokeswoman described the series as being 'about the people paddling hard beneath the water to make the Olympics happen in London 2012'.

The cast includes Hugh Bonneville, Jessica Hynes, who played Cheryl in the Royle Family, Olivia Colman and Amelia Bulmore.

Australia's ABC network aired a similar comedy ahead of the 2000 Sydney Games that took a satirical look at Olympic bureaucrats.

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