A Star attraction

Starstruck was a big comedy hit for the BBC last year and it’s back next week with Russell Tovey as a bonus.

Written by and starring comedian Rose Matafeo, it continues the story of Jessie, a millennial living in East London who is romantically involved with film star Tom (Nikesh Patel).

After deciding to pursue a relationship with him at the end of the series, Jessie must deal with the consequences. Tom has to deal with a nightmare director in the form of Tovey, above.

Rose says: “Russell had seen the show, which was really lovely. And we had been looking for a particular person to embody that character, of a difficult director. “It’s an amalgamation of every annoying interview I’ve ever had. Russell completely nailed it. Nikesh got to share those scenes with him. It was heaps of fun.” The first run was streamed almost 5 million times on BBC iPlayer. The second series kicks off on the relaunched BBC3 on Monday. The success took Rose by surprise. She says: “I was shocked. It scared me how nice the reaction was. I was suspicious.”