W1A creator hails David Tennant's "ludicrous" narration – and teases "very different" Twenty Twenty Six

W1A and Twenty Twelve creator John Morton has praised the work of TV legend David Tennant in the hit sitcoms, while teasing his "utterly delightful" return in the imminent follow-up Twenty Twenty Six.

Hugh Bonneville stars in the trilogy of shows as senior executive Ian Fletcher, who often finds himself cornered into farcical situations by his colleagues and his own self-interested actions.

Ian's career is presented to viewers in the form of a 'mockumentary', with Tennant taking an off-screen role as its narrator, lending his authoritative voice to some truly daft scene-setting lines.

Following W1A's inclusion in Radio Times's poll to find the greatest modern British sitcom (vote now!), Morton looked back on the workplace comedy and the impact of Tennant's understated contribution.

He explained that scripting the narration is less "technically complicated" than the show's fast-paced dialogue, which is packed with filler words and cross-talk, but Tennant elevates it to be just as punchy and memorable.

"He's utterly brilliant," said Morton. "He knows exactly where the line is. When he's got something particularly silly to say... if you say it as a joke, it just doesn't work, but if you say it without any comedy at all, it goes 'clunk'.

"David manages to tread that line to let you enjoy the ludicrousness of what he's saying without him pointing at it. It's a very, very delicate thing."

Tennant is reprising his role as narrator for the forthcoming Twenty Twenty Six, which sees Ian go from Head of Values at the BBC to Director of Integrity on the oversight committee for an unspecified global football tournament.

Coincidentally, the sitcom happens to be releasing just prior to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Morton revealed that Tennant recorded his narration for Twenty Twenty Six late last year, assuring fans that the Doctor Who and Rivals icon hasn't lost any of his comic potency.

"He's exactly the same: utterly delightful, so quick," he promised. "I sometimes forget until the very last bit of [production] what a big note in the overall music of the show he is... So we're super grateful for David."

Of course, Morton also expressed his "admiration" of the entire W1A cast, who he tasked with memorising incredibly "precise" scripts, where just the slightest slip-up could mean that the "whole engine crashes".

"At the end of one of those long meeting room scenes, I remember saying to them, 'The annoying thing about this is that when it comes out the other end, it'll look absolutely effortless. No one will ever know what you've just done,'" he said.

"So this opportunity is great for me, because I get a chance to say they are, all of them, my heroes."

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The return of Tennant, Bonneville and Fleabag's Hugh Skinner (as Ian's hapless personal assistant Will) should make viewers of the earlier Fletcher-verse shows feel at home, despite a largely new cast, workplace and project to deliver.

"It's very different because a lot of people will not have seen the previous [shows], so it's got to work out of the box, fresh," explained Morton, whose ultimate "aspiration" is that Twenty Twenty Six actually improves upon its two precursors.

"[Making a TV show is] not easy, so given that you're embarking on something that will completely dominate your life and put you under a lot of stress and anxiety, you've got to hope that it will be better than the thing you did before," he added.

Morton will leave it up to viewers to decide whether he scored that particular goal.

Twenty Twenty Six is coming soon to BBC Two and iPlayer. Twenty Twelve and W1A are streaming on iPlayer.

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