Twenty Twelve: The Complete Series

Like the original U.K. series The Office starring Ricky Gervais, writer-director John Morton's BBC workplace comedy Twenty Twelve employs a similar faux-documentary style to present a whip-smart ride-along with a fictitious committee of type-A London officials, PR flacks, and brand-ambassadors handling preliminary arrangements for the 2012 Summer Olympics under a thousand-day deadline. The team, crowned with empty titles (Head of Legacy, Head of Sustainability, Head of Infrastructure), confront bewildering pressure-group protests, political correctness, environmentalists, and angry Muslims demanding an Olympics worship center facing Mecca; watch as a bus tour of Brazil's delegates disintegrate into disaster; try out an awkward ex-jock as a figurehead-spokesman; and stage non-events like “Inclusivity Day.” The group's leader is “Head of Deliverance” Ian (Hugh Bonneville), a trudging bloke with a knack for evasive oratory, who tries to please everybody while his off-screen marriage to a nasty lawyer crumbles, his dutiful secretary falls for him, and he suffers an embarrassing injury on the eve of the games. Familiarity with British (and London) culture is necessary for maximum enjoyment, but Olympics-trivia knowledge—surprisingly—is not, although among the real-life celebs making cameo appearances as themselves here is Olympics-champion-turned-House-of-Lords-member Sebastian Coe (usually in exasperation mode). Presenting all 13 episodes that originally aired in 2011-12, DVD extras include cast and crew interviews. Recommended. (C. Cassady)