David Tennant Re-Records W1A Commentary Following Jeremy Clarkson's BBC Exit



The departure of Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson caused a hasty rewrite of the opening episode of series two of W1A and a return to the recording studio for programme narrator David Tennant. 

The spoof fly-on-the-wall documentary set in Broadcasting House is a follow up to the award-winning Olympic Games sitcom Twenty Twelve. W1A sees the former head of the fictional Olympics Deliverance Committee, Ian Fletcher, played by Hugh Bonneville, in his new role as Head Of Values for the BBC. The series also stars Jessica Hynes, Jason Watkins, Sarah Parish and Nina Sosanya with David Tennant providing a dry voiceover to the onscreen events. 

The hour-long opening episode to the second series featured a reference to Clarkson in a storyline on damage limitation though Clarkson himself does not appear in the show. It is said that changes were made to the script to reflect the presenter's "updated status". No reshoots were necessary, but David Tennant, who is currently in the middle of filming Marvel's A.K.A. Jessica Jones in New York, was required to update some of the narration.


A BBC spokesman said: "There have been no re-edits but a very small tweak has been made to the commentary to more accurately reflect recent events."

It appears to be yet another instance of series creator John Morton's comedies predicting real life events, the most famous of which was when a storyline in Twenty Twelve featured the Olympic countdown clock breaking down shortly before the same fate befell the real thing. 

W1A is due to return to BBC Two with four brand new episodes at the end of April. 


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