Timewasters: Britain’s Underappreciated Comedy Gem
Daniel Lawrence Taylor’s sci-fi sitcom is one of the best British comedies of the past few decades, so why haven’t more people heard of it?
“Bruv, how can you not want to explore? We owe it to ourselves. People like us never get to time travel. It’s what white people do, like skiing or brunch.”
In a piece I wrote about a while back, I briefly discussed how the UK TV & film industry has historically suffered from a lack of minority representation in commissioning and senior roles.
I wrote about the reluctance of many white commissioners to encourage artists of colour to be more creative with their storytelling, instead electing to box them into depictions of Blackness that white audiences are more comfortable/familiar with like crime, gangs, poverty, struggle, hip hop culture and general Black suffering.
I also suggested that while it is commonplace for shows like Top Boy to be critiqued simply for existing as a show that depicts Black people selling drugs, it would be more constructive to focus our fire on broadcasters and commissioners. These are the people who most likely receive pitches for more alternative Black projects but baulk at the prospect of green-lighting them (or maybe focus on the wider societal barriers that prevent minorities from taking up more creative vocations).
While the lack of diversity within the British media is absolutely worth going deeper into*, I realised that a lot of the draft pieces I have on the shelf are about problems and things I don’t like, and it’s been a while since I’ve written about something I really loved (like Rye Lane, which you should watch).
In light of this, I decided to write about one of my favourite comedies of all time and, in my opinion, the funniest British comedy of the past decade. But it was while writing that I realised the two subjects actually meshed pretty well together.
Y’see dear reader (assuming one person is reading this), in 2017 a British comedy was first broadcast on ITV 2. It was created by a Black writer who also starred in it along with an all-Black main cast, and it centred around the mishaps of a Black jazz quartet who are led to a time machine in the elevator of a council estate by a man known only as “Homeless Pete” (who thought about using the time machine to travel back to a time when he was “less addicted to heroin”, but decided nah), and are transported back to 1920s England.
This show fits pretty perfectly into what I was previously talking about as it serves as both an example of the quality that can be achieved when a broadcaster shows interest in a Black creative who is doing something a bit different; but it also serves as the perfect example of the struggles faced by said Black creatives in our industry, even after they get their shows made.
Soooo, let’s talk about Timewasters.
It all started, as many things do, with a man and his trumpet.
In 2015, while inexplicably deciding to try and learn the trumpet, actor Daniel Lawrence Taylor had the idea of writing his first scripted television series about an all-Black jazz band, set in the past with a time travel element attached to it. Taylor was inspired by shows that focus on a group of friends like The Inbetweeners, Plebs, and Drifters (which he refers to as gang shows in interviews because he doesn’t know the word for this specific genre… and I’m now realising that I don’t either?), and after a few drafts (under working titles such as Black to the Future and Blackwards, for a fun challenge, see if you can think of a better working title for this show, mine is Black Timing), the show was commissioned by ITV.
Taylor starred as Nick Wolton, the nerdy and perpetually anxious bandleader; alongside Adelayo Adedayo ( The Responders, Some Girls, Enterprice although IMDB is gaslighting me on this), Nick’s amoral and money-obsessed sister and the drummer of the band; Kadiff Kirwan ( Chewing Gun, Detective Pikachu, This Way Up) also starred as Jason, the meat-headed pretty boy on the sax; and rounding up the main cast was Samson Kayo ( Famalam, Our Flag Means Death, Puss In Boots: The Last Wish) as Horace, the sweet-natured singer and jack-of-all-trades for the band.
Right off the bat it’s hard to overstate just how much quality that Timewasters derives from it’s cast. Taylor, Adedayo, Kirwan, and Kayo each bring so many specific quirks and characteristics to their roles with such confidence, it’s impossible to imagine any other actors playing them and, crucially, the chemistry between them is pitch perfect.
While the individual performance of each actor is a joy to watch, easily the best parts of the show come when the cast is allowed to bounce off of one another, easily matching the quality of ensemble dynamics you’d find in mainstream shows like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia or The Office (the good one, you can figure out which one I mean if you know me). When recalling one of the first rehearsals for the show, Taylor mentions that an ITV executive genuinely believed that he’d cast his long-time friends in the show, and I think that tells you everything you need to know about the chemistry of the cast. Our gang spends most episodes bickering, trying to one-up each other or straight-up betraying one another, yet due to the performances and writing, you never once doubt that there’s genuine love and cathexis between them when it counts.
The talent of the cast is aided massively by the character-writing. The South London 20-somethings are each written to be hilarious, infuriating, and endlessly charming; they each have their set characteristics, yet they never feel stale, and that’s in large part due to the fact that while they’re all f**king idiots and are allowed to be genuinely off-putting at times while still holding onto that charm and likeability (a needle that I think a lot more mainstream films and shows are afraid to even attempt to thread).
Whether it’s Jason being painfully slow to realise that the 32-year-old, mix-raced son of his former rice-skinnded lover (who informs Jason that he’s the only Black man she’s ever been with) is in fact his; or Lauren coming up with morally dubious and exploitative get-rich-quick schemes such as accepting Caribbean migrants into their yard to force her racist white neighbours to sell up so that she can buy an entire street for 1950s (they travel back to a time just after the Windrush arrived in season 2) prices; or Horace accidentally introducing UK garage 40-years too early by singing DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies’ 2001 hit Do You Really Like It on national TV ( “There’s only so many times you can listen to someone shout SELEEECTA, without actually wondering what it is you’re meant to be seleeecting.”); or Nick’s vanity leading him to almost be recruited into a eugenics breeding program. These characters are ridiculous, yet somehow they never stop feeling like real, grounded people, no matter and that’s a real testament to the intent behind the wackiness.
Another aspect that makes Timewasters special is, that despite the time-travel-heavy premise meaning that our leads deal with countless acts racial prejudice, discrimination, and even violence due to being in the past, the show’s priority is always comedy first.
In an era where Black viewers are often confronted with constant images of Black trauma on our screens such as gleeful close-ups of people who look like us being violently whipped or beaten or gunned down by the police, Timewasters offers us a completely different way of doing things.
It’s always bothered me how many writers and creators use black pain and trauma as a quick and easy means of getting a reaction out of white audiences (yes white, because 8 times out of 10 the filmmaker hasn’t considered how the depiction of Black suffering will make Black viewers feel). Other shows like to opt for the “I don’t see colour” route and try to ignore race altogether, meaning we end up with instances where rapping slave masters (still love me some Hamilton tho) and leading figures in white supremacist, imperialist institutions are played by actors of colour in projects that do the bare minimum to address these uncomfortable facts in-depth (still love me some Bridgeton season 2 tho, just don’t chat to me about Daphne).
Timewasters instead navigates this elephant in the room by zeroing in on the sheer banality and ignorance of the racists, using them as a launch pad for hilarious gags. Our leads treat racists as minor annoyances that they would rather simply sidestep as the gang’s main priority is having fun or making money; they’re well-versed in racist behaviour due to their experiences in present-day London but just take it in their stride, similarly to how many of us do in real life. There’s also this fascinating take on what it means to be a Black entertainer in a white, upper-class space, where many Black musicians and artists were seemingly embraced but often treated as performing pets.
While another show about Black people time travelling would be tempted to focus entirely on undoing some racially-motivated trauma or dramaturgically trying to survive in a more overtly racist world, our characters in Timewasters are too busy trying to enjoy themselves to even care, and that contributes to making this show feel like’s just such a breath of fresh air to me.
Finally, it would be impossible to talk about Timewasters without talking about the writing of the show.
This show is hilarious, filled with brilliant one-liners, witty character interactions and wild set-ups that yield the most memorable pay-offs; it’s insane to me that this is Taylor’s first scripted television writing gig as the comedy (co-written with Barunka O’Shaughnessy) has an assuredness and efficiency that rivals many of the top British sitcoms (it’s also maybe the only sitcom to feature a genuinely funny blackface gag, I know David Baddiel was jealous as hell). The writing of Timewasters perfectly understands what makes the premise so rich with potential, and Taylor thinks of endless creative and inventive ways to mine comedy out of it while perfectly blending the high concept of time travel with references to contemporary London life and culture that we can all understand.
One of my personal favourite exchanges comes as series 1 antagonist, Curtis, played by Kevin “KG tha Comedian” Garrett ( Ted Lasso, Red Flag, and just general OG internet comedy), chases Jason through a forest, having traversed time to hunt down the man who slept with his fiancé.
Jason: How’d you find me?!
Curtis: Come now Jason, you know I’m a roadman. When I say I’m gonna find you, I’m going to find you.”
Honestly, most of KG’s line deliveries in this show are golden (keep an ear out for his delivery of “ Wagwan Jason… Man’s been lookin’ for you for a minute though stiiiill”) and I’m so glad that one of the funny guys currently doing it is currently booked and busy.
One small-ish thing that I particularly appreciate is how awful Lauren is allowed to be. In a lot of sitcoms featuring gangs (ugh, I need to figure out the word for this before I put this out), the sole woman of the gang is usually relegated to being the voice of reason, or the most sane/innocent of the group (Dee in the early episodes of It’s Always Sunny is a great example), this often means that they get the most tame jokes or are stuck as being the nagging bore, tutting and rolling their eyes while the men have all the fun. However, Timewasters never once shows any signs of holding back with Lauren, who one could argue is the most awful of the lot. It’s just fun to see a woman (especially a Black woman) allowed to be as hilariously awful as the men without sacrificing any likeability (coz you know these dudes on the internet are looking for an excuse) and Adedayo sells the full deviousness of her character with aplomb. This creative choice is one of many that makes Timewasters such a good comedy.
A core point in my Top Boy piece is that while it’s tempting to often discuss shows that heavily feature a Black cast/crew through the lens of representation and how progressive the assortment of talent is, we often tend to do them a disservice by not also treating them as TV shows in their own right. Being labelled as “a Black show” can mean that it’s almost put in its own special box, away from the other “normal” shows, when actually what we have is a high-quality piece of art that deserves to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the best that their white contemporaries have to offer. I truly believe that this also applies to Timewasters, while the show deserves so much praise for how it utilises so many phenomenal Black talents, standing on the shoulders of Black UK comedy gems like The Fosters, Desmond’s’, No Problem!, The Real McCoy, The Lenny Henry Show & Chewing Gum, it also deserves to be praised as one of the best modern comedies this country has produced as a whole.
And yet…
ITV barely promoted it, and the show only got two series.
Yep, here comes the sting in the tail.
As much as I’d like to end this super-positive piece on a similarly positive note, it’s impossible for me to talk about Timewasters without talking about how, despite earning critical acclaim, a BAFTA TV nomination, a Royal Television Society Programme Award for Taylor, and being the most-viewed digital-channel comedy in 2017 for the 16–24 demographic in the UK; ITV never quite seemed to fully appreciate the show.
In his 2020 piece for The Guardian entitled “As a black TV writer in a white industry, we need support — not doubt”, Taylor recounts a less-than-ideal experience working with the broadcaster to get Timewasters made.
Taylor recalls experiences in the first series of the show such as having a co-writer forced on him by the production team because he “ couldn’t do it alone”, an executive openly assuming that a white script editor was responsible for a particularly strong script, and Taylor feeling like he could only get his ideas greenlit by often pretending that the aforementioned white editor had come up with them or assuring the team that he had her approval. There was even an instance of an episode being “completely re-written and sent to the channel with my name on it” with the channel rejecting the re-written episode as it inexplicably centred around a peripheral white character (there are some side plots I remember that make me wonder…).
Now it’s important to caveat this by stressing that these are Taylor’s specific take on events, and perhaps his white colleagues may see things differently. However, this still doesn’t change the fact that in an industry that claims to be more progressive than most, and a country embroiled in a bitter culture war that hinges on the idea that somehow racism is over and it’s the woke minorities who have all the power, the writer of a critically-acclaimed show was made to constantly feel belittled and anxious simply because of who he was.
Taylor states that “The environment became a place in which failure wasn’t an option. I would find myself asking industry friends for help and advice before I went to my own team.”
The anxiety he speaks of transcends the creative industry and is a common one that many Black people feel in a predominately white workspace, I myself remember talking to a manager at work about how I felt so heavily scrutinised by even my well-meaning white colleagues as if one errant facial expression would see me labelled as aggressive or difficult to work with. It’s the age-old issue of having to be twice as good while keeping a smile on your face at all times. Taylor even recalls how “A new colleague was open and amused enough to tell me she had been apprehensive about working with me at first as she was warned about how difficult I was.”
In an industry as tightly-knit as the media where so much weight is applied to reputation and word-of-mouth, I don’t think Taylor’s colleague even realised just how much of a death sentence it could have been if word of his “difficult” behaviour got around. Such is the specificity of that particular barb that it has plagued the careers of Black people (especially Black women) all over; many of us remember the video of Janet Hubert (our favourite Aunt Viv) telling Will Smith just how much damage he did to her life, career and reputation by callously labelling her as “difficult” after the former was let go from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
While Taylor’s experience improved significantly during the second series when it became apparent that the show was a hit, the show still received minimal promotion from ITV which is why many haven’t even heard of it despite its critical success. Taylor writes that “halfway through the series, we were given a ¼-page advert in a newspaper. A few months later, another period sitcom on the same channel but with an all-white cast was given the full front and back pages of the same publication.” The lack of publicity for the show contributed to a drop in ratings for its second (and better) series and it was unceremoniously cancelled, becoming another Black British sitcom falling victim to what veteran comedian Lenny Henry labelled as “the two-season jinx”, and following in the footsteps of series like The Fosters (the pioneering series in which Henry got his big break).
So here we have a hilarious, brilliantly-written show with a Black main cast and a brilliant concept, a show that received critical acclaim and had endless potential, yet it was still treated with a familiar shade of apathy by TV executives, and the creative mind behind the success of the show felt powerless to escape numerous microaggressions and racially-motivated obstacles put in his path.
Although there are talks of a US remake being made, and other broadcasters like Channel 4 are putting out more content spearheaded by Black talent (Jackie Adedeji’s My Big Boobs, rapper Konan’s Trapped In Trauma are good examples while the BBC has recently aired Tiffany Calver’s BBC series Drill on Trial); one still can’t help but look at the curious case of Timewasters and see an industry that might be making steps forward, but still has a long way to go.
Timewasters is currently available to watch on Amazon Prime Video and ITVX (or ITV hub or player or whatever), and I sincerely hope that more people watch so that it gets the flowers that I believe the show deserves.
* Ofcom’s report into equity, diversity and inclusion in television and radio for 2021–2022 revealed that the percentage of ethnic minorities in senior management roles at the major broadcasters is around 9%, which, considering how ethnic minorities make up 13% of the working age general population and much more of the population in the major cities where these broadcasters tend to operate, still leaves a lot to be desired.
Originally published at http://jjwi13.wordpress.com on July 8, 2023.
