Review of IIan Fletcher's return

He helped deliver the London 2012 Olympics and did - well something, presumably – while head of values at the BBC in W1A. Now Hugh Bonneville’s Ian Fletcher finds himself working on a major international footballing tournament in North America, which remains unnamed for legal reasons.  

The running joke that the name of the World C*p and its governing body F**a is always bleeped from David Tennant’s  voiceover is the best gag in Twenty Twenty Six.  And the most obvious, given creator John Morton prefers to smuggle in humour in awkward character interactions and subtle turns of phrase no one on screen would ever acknowledge as funny.

Fletcher’s uncomfortable in any situation, but there’s additional fish-out-of-water element to placing him in sun-drenched Miami to oversee the ‘integrity’ of the major sporting event.

He’s also now surrounded by an international team, all apparently promoted above their ability, and often playing to stereotypes. Gabriela De La Rosa (Jimena Larraguivel) is a fiery Mexican; Owen Mitchell (Stephen Kunken) is a nice but ineffective Canadian logistics chief; French-Swiss Eric Van Depuytrens (Alexis Michalik) speaks in gnomic, but nonsensical, platitudes of which Eric Cantona would be proud.

Two sides of the American psyche are represented. Nick Castellano (Paulo Costanzo) is the hard-headed, money-focussed VP of business and legal affairs, while sustainability chief Sarah Campbell (Chelsey Crisp) represents a more Californian mindset - endlessly positive and certain that simply believing is enough to see her through. Then there  is the UK’s Phil Plank (Nick Blood), a marginally successful ex-player – he played against Phil Neville once – who largely communicates by saying: ‘Yeah, Hundred per cent.’

The ensemble feels the absence of PR guru Siobhan Sharpe – the social media squad here babble their own language but it’s not the same level as batshit nothingness Jessica Hynes’s character spouted. And also we miss Hugh Skinner’s preternaturally dim Will Humphries – at least until he makes a very welcome appearance in the final shot. The comedy definitely picks up in episode two when his vacuity is allowed to shine. 

The opener, revolving around an announcement of the semi-final cities amid pressure from Miami – is more of a scene-setter, introducing this large cast and the tensions between them. It’s rarely laugh-out-loud, but there are moments to enjoy in lines such as  Tennant’s deadpan voiceover introducing an expert as ‘a microbiologist both by training and by temperament’.

With the action set in Florida, one wonders if the BBC had an eye on international sales or co-production. But what the Americans will make of this lowest of low-key comedies of social cringe would be anybody’s guess.

Review date: 8 Apr 2026
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett