Daniel Lawrence Taylor’s ITV2 comedy drops an all-black jazz quartet, brass cases and 21st-century attitude, into the thick of 1920s and 1950s London. The elevator that catapults trumpeter Nick, saxman Jason, drummer Lauren and trombonist Horace looks like it belongs in a condemned Peckham tower block, but it lands them in smoky clubs where the whisky is fake and the colour bar is real. Each six-episode run lets the band chase gigs, dodge racists and hustle enough cash to get back to their own time before the timeline notices they were ever missing.
Taylor wrote the series, his first, after realising young black faces were scarce in period comedies; he swapped a TARDIS for a grimy lift and kept the jokes flying faster than the slurs. Director George Kane shoots single-camera, letting the swing soundtrack and the insults share the same breath. Critics praised the chemistry between Adelayo Adedayo’s eye-rolling Lauren and Samson Kayo’s wide-eyed Horace, while Kadiff Kirwan’s Jason treats Jim Crow London like one long, exasperating night out. The Royal Television Society handed Taylor its 2018 Breakthrough Award; Bafta nominated the show for Best Scripted Comedy the same year. ITV2 never commissioned a third series, leaving the quartet stuck somewhere between eras and cult status.
Production Details
ITV2 / 2 Seasons / 12 Episodes / 2017 - Present
Created by: Daniel Lawrence TaylorBarunka O'Shaughnessy
Writer(s): Daniel Lawrence Taylor, Barunka O'Shaughnessy
Producer(s): Josh Cole
Main Cast
Daniel Lawrence Taylor as Nick
Kadiff Kirwan as Jason
Samson Kayo as Horace
Adelayo Adedayo as Lauren
Ellie White as Janice
Kevin Garry as Curtis
John Stoate as Homeless Pete
Joseph Quinn as Ralph
Kevin Eldon as Professor John Logie Baird
Tom Meeten as Shop Assistant
Seleme Knight as Screaming Woman
