TURN UP CHARLIE
2019 AVAILABLE 15 MARCH Netflix
Drama might be his wheelhouse, but Idris Elba can do funny – look at The Office (US), Zootropolis and Finding Dory. And it’s not just supporting roles: he proved his chops as a comic lead in last year’s semi-autobiographical sitcom In The Long Run. This eightpart Netflix series is another labour of love. Conceived and exec-produced by its star, it draws upon Elba’s passion for music, as he assumes the titular role of a former DJ and one-hit wonder living off past glories.
If he’s hardly pushing himself, Elba’s natural charisma makes it easy to warm to the roguish Charlie, who becomes a reluctant ‘manny’ to the precocious daughter of workaholic actor pal David (JJ Feild) and music producer Sara (Piper Perabo).
Newcomer Frankie Hervey makes for a fine foil as spoilt brat Gabrielle, sparking nicely off Elba’s hapless man-child, as he’s regularly outwitted by his wise-beyond-her-years charge. With stand-up Guz Khan
and 3 Non-Blondes’ Jocelyn Jee Esien as Charlie’s flatmates, and comedy vet Tristram Shapeero (Community, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) in the director’s chair, Turn Up Charlie should bring the yuks. But as the focus shifts to David and Sara’s career-versuschildcare conundrum or Gabrielle’s struggles at school, it lapses into soapy sentimentality. As a comedy, it doesn’t quite deliver where it counts – too often, we’re left waiting for the gags, as well as Charlie, to turn up. Chris Schilling