Asylum, BBC Four

The BBC is keen to point out to anyone who'll listen that this new political satire is not, repeat not, about Julian Assange. They'll allow that it was in part inspired by the WikiLeaks founder's situation, but any similarity between him and Dan Hern, a preening egotist who leaked official documents and sought asylum in a South American embassy in central London, is purely coincidental.

That's the legalities out of the way, so what of the programme? Co-created by Kayvan Novak (of Fonejacker fame) and producer Tom Thostrup, and written by newcomers Peter Bowden and Thom Phipps, Asylum (a three-parter) is being shown as part of the BBC's "Taking Liberties" season, which marks 800 years of the Magna Carta.

Dan (Ben Miller) has been living in the El Rican embassy for a year after leaking details online of CIA torture. He hates being compared with Assange (“Don't mention that hack”) and he's miffed that he has been overshadowed by the white-haired Australian. For the El Ricans, meanwhile, any hopes they had of leverage on the world stage with Dan in their midst have faded as his star has dimmed, and the ambassador's oily son, Rafael (Novak, pictured below) wants him to leave. As the ambassador's daughter Rosa (Yasmine Akram) says of Dan: “Last year he was hot shit. Now he's room-temperature shit. Which is shit.”

As Dan's usefulness has waned, so the El Rican welcome has diminished, and now his room is the embassy's broom cupboard. Into the fray comes the ludicrous Ludo Backslash (Dustin Demri-Burns), an irritating young German web entrepreneur who set up an illegal downloading site and is wanted by the authorities; Ludo, the creators are happy to say, was inspired by Kim Dotcom. Ludo couldn't be more different to the serious and beige-cardiganed Dan, who for all his faults has at least been guided by principle. Ludo dresses like something vomited out in the Ibiza rave scene and his actions have been guided purely by profit.

The El Ricans put Ludo in Dan's room, and in the best sitcom tradition we now have two men with conflicting personalities trapped in the same place with no hope of escape – a very modern version of The Odd Couple. In the first episode we see Dan's impotent consternation growing, and possible conflict as he and Ludo both fancy the haughty Rosa. But there's also potential for the two men to become buddies; Ludo may be a fool, but he's a fool who can access hardcore porn for Dan on his laptop.

Asylum is a little gem. The satire is subtly parlayed among the comedy, and it's full of neat asides and clever visual jokes – giving the two men bunk beds in their tiny room, as if they were 10-year-olds on a sleepover, is particularly hilarious. The cast are clearly having fun, and most are allowed to slightly overplay their characters – to great comedic effect – by director Iain B MacDonald. Their broad strokes are a neat counterpoint to Miller's wonderfully buttoned-up and puffed-up Dan – irritated and irritating at every turn. A joy.