As the man behind some of the greatest comedies of all time (The Day Today, I’m Alan Partridge, The Thick of It), it’s safe to say Armando Iannucci knows his way around a TV set. But even he was left bewildered by his latest project. The Franchise – which chronicles the chaotic production of a mid-tier superhero movie – is so ridiculously meta and so meticulously realistic that accidentally straying into the action became an occupational hazard. “I would sit down in front of the monitor and someone would say: ‘Sorry, you’re in shot.’ Why would you put the monitor in front of the … Oh! This is Tecto: Eye of the Storm’s monitor! This isn’t The Franchise monitor!” The only reliable way to distinguish the pretend crew from the genuine crew was the colour of their lanyards (yellow for the real TV show; black for the fake movie).
It’s a show with a wealth of acting talent involved. As viewers, we mainly shadow Daniel, the first assistant director who is “obsessed and exhausted,” says Himesh Patel (Yesterday) who plays him. He’s joined by new third assistant director Dag, AKA Lolly Adefope (Ghosts), who describes her as “messy and annoying”. The pair must wrangle the actors (including Richard E Grant’s obnoxious luvvie Peter, whose primary passion is his lucrative work for the Libyan tourist board) as well as auteurish director Eric (Marvel alumnus Daniel Brühl) – who has his own doggedly devoted assistant, the cheery and only slightly sexually frustrated Steph (W1A’s Jessica Hynes).
