Utopia

After working in a government department for 15 years I can say utopia is closer to the truth than non public servants think! Had me in tears i couldnt stop laughing.

Welcome to the Nation Building Authority, an Australian government organisation set up to plan and oversee major infrastructure projects. While the staff are capable and enthusiastic, in true government fashion, red tape, politics and inefficiency will always have the last laugh.

Great series, parodying the inefficiency of government departments. "Parody" might not be the right word - "mirroring" would be more accurate. Shows well how the best intentions of staff always take a back seat to political machinations, unnecessary red tape and the usual government inefficiency.

Quite funny in the way it explores these themes though sometimes so accurate it is more sad than funny.

I work in a very similar environment, and this show is a pitch perfect satire of my job. It makes me feel uncomfortable in the way a fantastic satire should. The writing is spot on, and the performances, especially from Rob Sitch, Kitty Flanagan, Celia Pacquola, and Dave Lawson bring it to life in such an incredible way. It truly realizes the absurdities of government life in a Westminster-style government in a way many shows don't grasp and truly demonstrates in its best moments the conflict between good policy and political realities without leaning on any one character too heavily to point out the absurdities.

That being said, I don't know how much all of it would resonate with someone outside of the climate of government. Some of the episodes are pretty universal - there's a season 2 episode with an HR rep that probably would resonate with most office environments, but I fear that some of the more clever moments may be lost on some viewers.

An easy to watch, cringe inducing comedy from Working Dog. Anyone who has ever worked for the public service, or for a major organisation for that matter, will feel right at home with this series. It is in some instances almost difficult to watch - it is that spot on. Some of the jokes fall flat in the first season, but it picks up towards the end and is on fire in the second. A commentator above has suggested it is a poor hybrid of The Thick of It and The Office. I think that's a misunderstanding of the show; it certainly has elements of both, but it stand on its own as well thought out and delivered. The series is obviously directed at an Australian audience, but I imagine the that the trials and tribulations of these poor public servants would resonate across borders.

Quite a few people, while they are highly amused by this series, seem to assume that there is a degree of "poetic license" involved, and that the episodes of bureaucratic ineptitude have been "enhanced for dramatic effect."

Having worked for a very large Australian retail chain who have recently fallen on difficult times, (you know who they are :-) I can assure them that the level of HR dingbat-ery, IT ineptitude and over-the-top Political Correctness used as a ploy to mask the incompetence of lower- echelon staff, are actually very close to the mark.

I would love to be on their writing team; I could probably provide them with enough fresh material to keep them going for years!