Ambassadors (TV series)

Ambassadors is a three-episode British comedy-drama television serial that ran on BBC Two in 2013. Ambassadors follows the lives of the employees of the British embassy in the fictional Central Asian nation of Tazbekistan.[2]

Ambassadors
Also known asOur Men
GenreComedy-drama
Written by
Directed byJeremy Webb
Starring
ComposerDaniel Pemberton
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languagesEnglish
Russian[1]
"Tazbek"
No. of series1
No. of episodes3 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Kenton Allen
  • Luke Alkin
  • Matthew Justice
  • David Mitchell
  • Robert Webb
  • Chris Sussman
ProducerChris Carey
Production locations
EditorChrispin Green
Running time60 minutes
Production companies
Release
Original network
Original release23 October (2013-10-23) –
6 November 2013 (2013-11-06)

Cast
Britons
Tazbekis
  • Velibor Topic as Svecko, an Interior Ministry official
  • Yigal Naor as President Karzak of the Republic of Tazbekistan
  • Richard Katz as Jamatt, second-in-charge to Karzak
  • Natalia Tena as Tanya, Neil's Tazbek girlfriend and a barmaid
  • George Lasha as the tall surveillance man
  • Sevan Stephan as the short surveillance man
  • Danny Scheinmann as a guide
  • Krystian Godlewski as Amil Zarifi, a dissident
  • Umit Ulgen as Oybek Yerzhan, Tanya's brother and a rebel
  • Lydia Leonard as Fergana Karzak, the daughter of President Karzak
Embassy Tazbekis
Others

Production
Cast of Ambassadors (left to right)
Shivani Ghai, Amara Karan, David Mitchell, Robert Webb, Susan Lynch

On 23 August 2012, BBC Two's controller Janice Hadlow announced the commissioning of the limited television serial,[3] by herself and Cheryl Taylor, the controller of BBC comedy commissioning.[4] The series went into production in January 2013.[5]

Robert Webb said: "It's sort of Yes, Prime Minister meets Spooks at a bad disco".[5] David Mitchell said: "It's credible, hopefully funny at times, but serious at times. It was very nice to do something in a slightly different genre. It was nice to do a bit of acting alongside all my sitting in a sparkly chair telling a joke."[6]

Part of the series was filmed in Bursa in western Turkey. According to AZ Celtic Films, Bursa was chosen because of its diversity and closeness to Istanbul, which is called the "hub of the film industry".[7] The series received help from the Turkish military and the local airport, where filming took two days. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) allowed the cast to run a read-through in one of its grandest rooms.[8]

James Wood, the co-writer of the series said "The stories we were told by diplomats were very closely reflected in the series. We ended up with 200 pages of research" and that a week was spent in Kazakhstan with the Ambassador there.[8] According to Craig Murray, the former ambassador to Uzbekistan, Big Talk Productions tried to buy the rights to his book, Murder in Samarkand, for a film and believes the series, a "state-sponsored satire", is based on it.[8] In his opinion, the FCO had backed it to "defuse the horror of our alliance with Uzbekistan and make it banal, accepted and safe".[8]

The title sequence for the show was created by Joe Berger and Pascal Wyse.[9] Throughout the series the Union Flag always appears upside-down: in the title sequence, outside the embassy and on the ambassador's Land Rover. When the flag is flown upside down it means that the position flying it is in distress.

Episodes
No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateUK viewers
(millions)
1"The Rabbit Never Escapes"Jeremy WebbJames Wood and Rupert Walters23 October 2013 (2013-10-23)1.67
Ambassador Keith Davis (David Mitchell) and his deputy Neil Tilly (Robert Webb) attempt to secure a profitable military helicopter contract for a British company. Things go awry when Keith accidentally shoots an ibex, Tazbekistan's national animal, while on a hunting trip with President Karzak; Neil has to help a British activist imprisoned for criticizing the regime's human rights abuses; and the embassy's Best of British festival fails to win over the natives.
2"The Prince's Trousers"Jeremy WebbJames Wood and Rupert Walters30 October 2013 (2013-10-30)1.00 (overnight)
Prince Mark of Bath (Tom Hollander), a minor royal, travels to Tazbekistan in his capacity as trade envoy and soon makes himself unpopular with his demands on the embassy staff. His arrival coincides with the escape of one of the country's most celebrated and outspoken dissidents, the blind Amil Zarifi, who asks for sanctuary in the embassy. Neil takes the decision to bring Zarifi into the compound, which not only incenses his boss but also infuriates the Tazbeks. Unexpectedly Prince Mark's closing speech resolves the situation.
3"The Tazbek Spring"Jeremy WebbJames Wood and Rupert Walters6 November 2013 (2013-11-06)0.90 (overnight)
While celebrating the Tazbek president's Platinum Jubilee, gunfire erupts on the streets. Worried that this is the start of the "Tazbek Spring" (a reference to the Arab Spring), the ambassadors must decide whether to back the rebels or the government. At the same time, the Foreign Office vetting officer arrives fresh from Guantanamo Bay detention camp to evaluate the embassy staff. After being captured by the rebels, Davis and the French Ambassador are saved by British special forces helping Tazbek soldiers suppress the rebellion.

Reception

Ratings

Overnight figures showed that the first episode attracted 1.21 million viewers on BBC Two. It was watched by 5.4% of television viewers during its original broadcast.[10] The second episode saw an audience share of 4.5%.[11]

Critical reception

According to Alison Graham of the Radio Times: "There are some funny bits, but it's a drama with a light touch, rather than an out-and-out comedy. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as this is an engaging, even winning, hour."[12] The Daily Telegraph journalist Jake Wallis Simons commented that "the two leading actors, Messrs David Mitchell and Robert Webb, brought the thing alive." Mitchell's character, he wrote, "was a wonderfully explosive and strait-laced character, who thought nothing of placing the sale of British military helicopters above rescuing British citizens from death at the hands of the Tazbekistan regime. At the same time, of course, he was 100 per cent buffoon."[13] While considering it inferior to the same lead performers' Peep Show, Ellen E. Jones wrote in The Independent considered "Webb was a particular pleasure to watch. After so long playing a total wally, it was simply fascinating to see him as a competent, practical employee."[14]

The Guardian's Sam Wollaston said it was "More of a drama with jokes than jokes strung together with some kind of story. The funniest bits are almost incidental" and "Ambassadors didn't blow me away, but it grew on me as it went along."[15]

See also

References
  1. Seale, Jack (23 October 2013). "Mitchell and Webb on Ambassadors, holidays, learning Russian, tea and global politics". RadioTimes.
  2. "BBC - Media Centre - Programme Information - Ambassador". United Kingdom. BBC. Archived from the original on 4 February 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2021. Set in the fictional Central Asian Republic of Tazbekistan...
  3. "BBC Two announces raft of new commissions". BBC. 23 August 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  4. "First-look behind-the-scenes video for BBC Two's Ambassadors, starring Mitchell and Webb". BBC. 7 October 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  5. "BBC Two announces Our Men starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb". BBC. 23 August 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  6. Jeffery, Morgan (3 October 2013). "David Mitchell talks new Channel 4 quiz, Twitter and a move into drama". Digital Spy. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  7. Goundry, Nick (8 October 2013). "Mitchell and Webb BBC comedy Ambassadors films on location in Turkey". The Location Guide. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  8. Sherwin, Adam (8 October 2013). "Can new Mitchell & Webb comedy help the Foreign Office improve its image?". The Independent. Archived from the original on 10 October 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  9. "Latest: our title sequence to Ambassadors". Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  10. Eames, Tom (24 October 2013). "'Poirot' final episodes begin with 4.4m on ITV". Digital Spy. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  11. Eames, Tom (31 October 2013). "'Poirot' holds steady at 4.4m for second episode on ITV". Digital Spy. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  12. Graham, Alison. "Ambassadors Series 1 Episode 1". Radio Times. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  13. Simons, Jake Wallis (23 October 2013). "Ambassadors, BBC Two, review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  14. Jones, Ellen E. (23 October 2013). "Ambassadors has a great cast but it's unlikely to earn a lasting place in our affections". The Independent. Archived from the original on 27 October 2013. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  15. Wollaston, Sam (23 October 2013). "Ambassadors – TV review". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
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