Twenty Twelve: The Complete Collection

Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey), Jessica Hynes (Spaced), Olivia Colman (Peep Show) and Amelia Bullmore (State of Play) star in this fly on the wall comedy about the people paddling hard beneath the water to make the Olympics happen in London in 2012. Filmed in the same faux-documentary style used in The Office, Twenty Twelve finds hilarity in how a huge bureaucracy deals with petty details such as how to phase the traffic lights across London to get people from west to east, what to do with the Taekwondo hall after the event, and how to cope with athletes who want to do publicity but are just too dull. This intrepid team must decide who should run the Cultural Olympiad and figure out what to do when the much-vaunted wind turbines won't turn because there's no wind. Basic ineptitude rises to the surface when these men and women attempt to stage the greatest sporting event in the world.

Series 1
Episode 1 With time ticking inexorably downwards, the marketing team come up with a major public event to mark the '1000 days to go' milestone. A huge clock designed by a modern British artist will be installed outside Tate Modern on the banks of the Thames in a ceremony performed by both Seb Coe and Boris Johnson and will count down towards the start of the Olympic Games. The only problem is that the clock has a
potentially disastrous design flaw which no-one seems to have noticed until it is too late. Meanwhile the process of deciding which public figures should be approached to carry the Olympic Torch on its journey around Britain has begun.

Episode 2
A visiting group of dignitaries from Rio (Olympic hosts in 2016) is in London for the week. For Head of Deliverance Ian Fletcher and his team the mission is simple. All they have to do is to meet the Brazilian delegation and take them by coach to the Olympic Stadium where they will meet Head of LOCOG, Lord Sebastian Coe. What can possibly go wrong? As it turns out, just about everything: from language difficulties through satellite navigation issues to burst water mains and phantom punctures. For the team it's a lesson in the importance of staying positive and focused even when you are literally travelling in completely the wrong direction

Episode 3
It's another challenging week for Head of Deliverance, Ian Fletcher, and his team. Roman remains of potentially national significance have been discovered on the site of the aquatics centre, forcing them to contemplate radical last-minute modifications to the design of the building. It's a matter of asking the tough questions. What would happen if they made the diving pool shallower? Will it matter if athletes have to go through the cafeteria to get from the changing rooms to the pool? Head of Brand, Siobhan Sharpe, has decided that the 2012 games should have their own unique audio logo. Head of Infrastructure Graham Hitchins is grappling with the sensitive issue of civil aviation flight paths during the period of the games, and Head of Sustainability Kay Hope is faced with recording her own video blog at the Olympic site itself.

Episode 4
Dave Wellbeck is an ex-athlete, double Olympic silver medallist and, in theory, a natural choice as brand ambassador for Raising the Bar, a scheme to get young people inspired by Olympic ideals. He is hardworking, conscientious and loyal, but the truth is that he has about as much charisma as a dimmer switch and his busy schedule of presentations in schools around the country is having the effect of switching young people off in their thousands. Ian and Siobhan have different views on how to deal with the problem. Head of Sustainability Kay Hope is forced to stand her ground in the light of the discovery that there might not, after all, be enough wind to power the much-vaunted Olympic Park wind turbine.

Episode 5
There are only three applicants for the post of Curator of the Cultural Olympiad, so how difficult can it be to select the best candidate? As Ian Fletcher and his team find out, it is almost impossible. As if that wasn't enough, their ultimate boss, Sebastian Coe, has decided that it would be good for the profile of Twenty Twelve if members of the team entered the London Marathon. As the pressure on Ian as Head of Deliverance gradually increases, the cracks in his marriage are starting to get wider and wider. Could this possibly mean that the secret hopes of his ever-loyal PA Sally might one day move closer to fulfilment?

Episode 6
The decision to hold equestrian events in Greenwich Park is one of the most controversial choices made by the Olympic authorities. Among the many groups of people who are against it are local residents, led by self-styled maverick film director Tony Ward. Given that it is now over 30 years since he made his one and only successful film, Ward has had a lot of time on his hands to think about how angry he is and to plan his campaign of protest. It starts with the arrival of an enormous pile of horse manure on the pavement outside the Olympic Deliverance Commission offices and climaxes with a live debate with Head of Deliverance Ian Fletcher on Radio 4's Today programme.

Series 2
Part 1
Episode 1 - Boycott, Part 1 The documentary cameras continue to follow the men and women responsible for delivering the London Olympic Games as they paddle increasingly hard to keep the games on track and on budget. The Algerian Olympic team threaten to boycott the Games after discovering that the Shared Belief Centre does not face Mecca.

Episode 2 - Boycott, Part 2 The second half of a very long day. The Algerians issue a deadline of midnight for a solution to their demand for a Shared Belief Centre which faces Mecca, whilst the French are now threatening to pull out of the Games if a separate mosque is built. The team have to come up with an idea that will please everyone.

Episode 3 - Clarence House A decision must be made about the future of the Olympic Stadium, and Clarence House has asked the ODC to look at ways of linking the Twenty Twelve Olympics with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee - is "Jubilympics" the perfect branding solution?

Episode 4 - The Rapper Siobhan's team design a major sexual health campaign, complete with a rap song ("Get It On"), which may upset the Catholic competitors.

Part 2
Episode 5 - Catastrophisation Thirty two days to go, and with Head of Deliverance Ian Fletcher chairing the final ever meeting of the Twenty Twelve Security Committee's Special Catastrophisation Unit, it emerges that someone has been caught converting official Olympic starting pistols to fire live rounds. With the US Security Forward Team about to arrive to review security arrangements for the Games, the challenge is to find a way of handling this piece of news that doesn't involve shooting themselves in the foot. Meanwhile Kay Hope continues her one woman quest to find a Sustainable use for the Stadium post Games, and Siobhan Sharpe and her team at Perfect Curve take on the task of re-branding the Twenty Twelve Travel Advice Pack in such a way that no-one will ever have to read it.

Episode 6 - Inclusivity Day Having been shot in the foot with a doctored starting pistol, Head of Deliverance Ian Fletcher discovers that he's also shortly to be without a PA as current PA Daniel Stroud has been offered another job. Back over at the offices of the ODC they try to work out how to launch "Inclusivity Day" in London on the same day that Seb Coe is launching "Diversity Day" in Oldham, when even though both Boris Johnson and Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson have agreed to take part, no-one knows what Inclusivity Day is. Ian's foot may have gone septic. Meanwhile over at PR Company Perfect Curve Siobhan Sharpe and her team devise a viral campaign designed to change the face of women's football without mentioning women's football following catastrophic ticket sales. The clock ticks on.

Episode 7 - Loose Ends Ten days left to try to tie up loose ends before the Deliverance Team finally hands over to the Live Team. Issues include what to do when it's discovered that the fireworks planned for the Opening Ceremony will trigger all the ground to air missiles that are in place for the Games; how to respond when the environmentally sound charging stations installed for the official Olympic electric cars turn out to charge so slowly that the entire fleet will quickly become plugged in, unable to move; and how handle a much publicised competition to compose aspecial peal of church bells to ring in the dawn of the Opening Day but which so far has attracted only two entries. On a personal note, newly divorced and soon to be redundant Ian has some loose ends of his own, including what to do with the rest of his life and what to do about Sally.

Hugh Bonneville ... Ian Fletcher (13 episodes, 2011-2012)
Amelia Bullmore ... Kay Hope (13 episodes, 2011-2012)
Jessica Hynes ... Siobhan Sharpe (13 episodes, 2011-2012)
Karl Theobald ... Graham Hitchens / ... (13 episodes, 2011-2012)
David Tennant ... Narrator (13 episodes, 2011-2012)
Vincent Franklin ... Nick Jellet / ... (12 episodes, 2011-2012)
Olivia Colman ... Sally Owen (10 episodes, 2011-2012)
Morven Christie ... Fi Healey (7 episodes, 2012)
Alex Beckett ... Barney Lumsden (6 episodes, 2011-2012)
Samuel Barnett ... Daniel Stroud (5 episodes, 2012)
Sara Pascoe ... Coco Lomax (5 episodes, 2012)
Joel Fry ... Karl Marx (4 episodes, 2012)
Sebastian Coe ... Himself (3 episodes, 2011-2012)
Simon Wilson ... TV Reporter - Sam / ... (3 episodes, 2012)
Lucy Briers ... Anna Mitchell / ... (2 episodes, 2011)
Rebecca Sarker ... TV Reporter / ... (2 episodes, 2012)
Bentley Kalu ... CIA / ... (2 episodes, 2012)

Series Directed by
John Morton (13 episodes, 2011-2012)

Series Writing credits
John Morton (13 episodes, 2011-2012)

Series Produced by
Jon Plowman .... executive producer (13 episodes, 2011-2012)
Paul Schlesinger .... producer / series producer (13 episodes, 2011-2012)
Eirwen Davies .... production executive (3 episodes, 2012)
Catherine Gosling Fuller .... producer (3 episodes, 2012)

Series Original Music by
Andrew Blaney (13 episodes, 2011-2012)

Series Cinematography by
John Sorapure (4 episodes, 2012)
Bill Broomfield (3 episodes, 2012)

Series Film Editing by
Robin Hill (7 episodes, 2012)
Nick Ames (6 episodes, 2011)