I honestly don't think either of these were among the original recommendations I received. Instead, I think they were part of an IMDB trail I followed off one of the other shows that was. Either way, I did enjoy both. One of my "guilty pleasure" favorite movies is "Head Office" from the early 80s. It paints a cynical, and I still think hilarious, view of the corporate world. I see a lot of that in these 2 shows, even though they're taking a more "Office-"style mockumentary path.
Hugh Bonneville is his normal great self in both, and David Tennant's narration is fun, as well. Though the mocking humor in the narration is more subtle in Twenty Twelve than in W1A, both are great. I kept waiting for some joke about constantly referring to Siobhan Sharpe as being from Perfect Curve every time she was mentioned.
The striking difference between the two was with Twenty Twelve, you have people actually moving towards a goal, in whatever way they're able to get there. With W1A, goals are met by almost falling backwards into each one, but it doesn't get repetitive. Also, the sheer nothingness of what a lot of the executives say in the various meetings is half the humor of the show! That, and everyone always saying, "Yes," or "Yes, no" or "No, Yes." How the character of Anna Rampton devolved into a corporate-speak automaton by the end was great (and sad of course, but fun to watch). The Simon Harwood character reminded me a bit of Max Landsberger in Head Office. It's never really clear what he does other than avoid trouble, and say "brilliant" a lot.
Anyway, I enjoyed both shows. Doubt I'll do a rewatch; but they made me laugh, so job done!
There's a new one of these coming. I forget the name of it, except it's the year again (maybe Twenty Twenty Six as presumably it's set in the current year)
Cool. I’ll have to keep an eye out for that. Thanks for the heads up!
ETA: just looked it up, and yeah it’s Twenty Twenty-Six, about the World Cup planning. Looks like they’re bring Hugh Skinner back as Will, too. I liked him in W1A. Wasn’t exactly funny, but the complete lack of any kind of competence was almost intriguing to watch. I can’t explain it. Kind of, “How does this guy get to work every day without causing serious harm to himself and/or others?”