Guerrilla is fan-tache-tic

NEW LOOK Idris in his ‘gunslinger’ moustache If Idris Elba is still in the running to be the next James Bond I’d like to offer him some well-meaning advice:

Keep your hair cropped. And never grow a gunslinger moustache for real.

I base this on his appearance in Sky Atlantic’s gripping new 1970s drama Guerrilla, for which Elba and the wardrobe team really went to town with the dressing-up box.

And, yes, I am fully aware that what Elba looks like is not the main thing I should be taking from this timely look at the racial tensions on the streets of Britain during that decade.

But he can’t expect to show up looking so remarkable without drawing some kind of remark.

That would be almost as daft as Freida Pinto’s character Jas having a pop at his character Kent for daring to point out how attractive she is.

Admittedly, Jas does have more important issues than her inconvenient beauty. Along with her boyfriend Marcus (Babou Ceesay) she becomes embroiled in a world of guns and violence after they both decide that peaceful protesting is getting them nowhere.

By the end of this first episode they were on the run after Marcus had accidentally shot a guard as they broke a fellow activist out of jail.

Despite this bloody turn Jas is still a firm believer in the end justifying the means. However, you get the feeling Marcus isn’t too sure.

If you want to find out where it all leads, you can binge watch the entire series over the Easter weekend.

I might take my time and do one episode a week though. TV drama as good as this should be savoured.