Twenty twelve is on its way. The forthcoming BBC faux documentary, that is, which will follow with comic intention the efforts of a team tasked - I think that would be the appropriate word - with the challenge - again, key word - of delivering - ditto - the London 2012 Olympics to the waiting world.

It’s a pressurised, time-sensitive operation to which a collection of almost familiar figures are dedicated.

As the BBC themselves describe it: "You’re organising the Biggest Show on Earth. You’ve got nine billion pounds to spend and plenty of time to think about it all. What can possibly go wrong?"

Hugh Bonneville plays the top man, Ian Fletcher, with sonorous aplomb. He is aided and abetted by a harridan of a press chief, Siobhan Sharpe (played by Jessica Hynes). But even Sharpe quails before the glacial Kay Hope (Amelia Bullmore) who is in charge of Heritage.

We are also offered the nerdish figure of Graham Hitchens (Karl Theobald), who has responsibility for infrastructure. And Hugh’s PA, Sally Owen (Olivia Colman), who is responsible for Hugh. ("Everyone wants a piece of him. They can’t always have it.")

If the snippets of dialogue in the clip released this week are anything to go by, this six-part BBC Four series, written by John Morton with narration from David Tennant, promises much mirth.

Fletcher addresses a barrier of microphone-toting media: "As you know, London 2012 is very much the people’s Games, which is why I am pleased to be able to announce formally that Peter Andre has agreed to be our principal torch bearer…"

On the subject of his press attaché, Fletcher enthuses: "Siobhan’s key strength is that she’s absolutely 100 per cent committed to the concept of being right about things."



Cut to the infallible operative as she engages with an underling on the phone: "No don’t talk, just listen OK? What I want you to do for me…are you there?"

Cut to Hitchins, waving his arms at two screens showing complicated maps. "It’s like flying a plane," he tells the interviewer. "If you get this right no one is going to notice. You get it wrong, everyone is going to notice. First they notice it, then they die…"

We see Hitchins struggling to guide a coach between parked cars; we hear his urgent concerns about "toiletage".

Then we see Hope and Fletcher in a pressurised exchange. Hope: "OK. That’s a problem." Fletcher: "I don’t need problems at the moment. I need solutions." Hope: “Well that’s an even bigger problem…"

Morton has a wonderfully sensitive ear for the nuances of modern nonsense, as he has demonstrated in his previous work such as the BBC2 spoof news show Broken News, and his BBC2 series People Like Us, a sitcom about a hapless film maker and his subjects which won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Comedy and the Silver Rose for Comedy at the Montreux Television Festival.

Now don’t get me wrong, I like the Olympics, and I like the fact that the next Olympics are in London. But there are certainly times when the London 2012 tone has become relentlessly earnest, and when its presentation has come to resemble a fixed grin. Such unvarying seriousness of purpose is often promising stuff as far as satire is concerned.

Not that this is likely to be satire of the Jonathan Swift, savage indignation type, if what we have seen so far is a fair indication. And unless the London 2012 Olympics are revealed to be a secret front for the trafficking of drugs and sex slaves, nor should it be.

Lord Sebastian Coe, not exactly any of these figures but perhaps a little bit of some of them, also appears to appear in the show - at least, he appears in the preview clip. It will be interesting to see what he makes of it.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the last five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames