Timewasters is a British science-fiction comedy television programme, first broadcast on ITV2 in 2017 with a second series broadcast in 2019. It was created by Daniel Lawrence Taylor and written by Taylor and Barunka O'Shaughnessy. It was produced for ITV Studios by Kenton Allen and Matthew Justice of Big Talk Productions. Episodes were directed by George Kane. The programme stars Taylor, Adelayo Adedayo, Samson Kayo and Kadiff Kirwan as the members of an unsuccessful all-black South London jazz quartet who time-travel to the 1920s, and later the 1950s, visiting the Jazz Age and post-war cool jazz period while experiencing culture clashes as they manoeuvre in the unfamiliar eras.
Critical response to the programme was generally favourable, with praise for its originality in addressing racism through the comedic insertion of modernity into a period setting. It is also known for satirizing historical dramas and their lack of diversity. There was critical praise for the writing, direction, chemistry of the main cast, and music. Taylor won the Breakthrough Award at the 2018 Royal Television Society Programme Awards, and the programme was nominated for Best Scripted Comedy at the 2018 British Academy Television Awards.
Cast
Main cast (the jazz quartet): Daniel Lawrence Taylor as Nick Wolton, trumpet and bandleader Kadiff Kirwan as Jason, saxophone Adelayo Adedayo as Lauren Wolton, drums Samson Kayo as Horace Cunningham, trombone and vocals. Kayo also portrays Horace's grandfather Aston in the series 2 premiere.
Recurring: John Stoate as Homeless Pete, operator of the time machine Kevin 'KG' Garry as Curtis Joseph Quinn as Ralph Liz Kingsman as Victoria (series 1) Anna Chancellor as Victoria (series 2) Frankie Wilson as Terry, leader of a group of Teddy Boys Kristy J Curtis as Rita, a Teddy Girl in Terry's group Theo Barklem-Biggs as Len White, a club owner Ellie White as Janice, a Russian spy Oliver Wellington as JJ, Jason and Victoria's son Clint Dyer as General Hands, a grifting jazz musician Sam Douglas as Vadim, a Russian spy Daniel Simonsen as Alexei, a Russian spy
Guests: Kevin Eldon as Professor John Logie Baird Nigel Havers as Dr Braithwaite, a eugenicist Nigel Planer as Albert Langley, Victoria's butler Sophie McShera as Rose Bickerton, Lauren's superfan Amy Beth Hayes as Nicola, Nick's romantic interest Danielle Vitalis as Myrtle, Horace's grandmother Daniel Rigby as Martin, an alternate-reality version of Horace Tom Bennett as Ronnie Scott, a jazz musician and club owner Javone Prince as Pastor Gabriel Patrick Baladi as Jonty Ripperton Clack, a conservative politician Maple Briscoe as Time Travelling Girl
Episodes
All episodes were directed by George Kane. Episodes were written by Taylor and Barunka O'Shaughnessy, with episode 4 of series 2 co-written by Claire Downes, Ian Jarvis and Stuart Lane.
Series 1 (2017)
Series 2 (2019)
Development
The programme was created by Taylor, who began working on it in 2015. He recalled that "I wanted to write a comedy for young black actors and I saw that shows such as The Inbetweeners, Drifters and Plebs were doing well." Taylor was learning to play the trumpet and this interest led him to write about a black jazz band in the 1920s. While acting on post-apocalyptic romantic-comedy Cockroaches, Taylor decided to use a high concept and added time travel. He wrote a spec script with the working title Black to the Future, which was later changed to Blackwards and then Timewasters. Although racial themes run throughout the programme, Taylor has said that it is "first and foremost ... a comedy."
Timewasters is Taylor's first project writing for scripted television. He worked with an editor provided by Big Talk Productions, who were producing Cockroaches for ITV, and improved his script over a few drafts. According to Taylor, the programme came at a time when there were "discussion[s] about putting more black talent on screen". His spec script drew interest from ITV, which commissioned a rehearsal reading. Casting was made through auditions; though the main cast hadn't worked together before, they had a quick chemistry and studio executives thought they were longtime friends. Taylor then worked with Barunka O'Shaughnessy and through a series of drafts they improved the humour and pacing of his stories for the first series.