Just two months after the U.K. release of the sitcom Idris Elba starred in and created, he’s signed on for another comedy. Variety reports that Netflix has ordered eight half-hour episodes of Turn Up Charlie, starring Idris as the titular Charlie.
The character certainly sounds familiar. He’s described as “a struggling DJ,” something Idris knows a lot about, having DJed in his youth, and an “eternal bachelor,” though we could hardly say that’s Idris’s issue after he proposed publicly to his girlfriend earlier this year.
One thing that takes Charlie into wholly new territory is what happens next. In a bid to find success, he reluctantly becomes a manny to his famous best friend’s problem-child daughter.
Anyone else getting Mrs. Doubtfire vibes?
And because there’s nothing the actor turned director/boxer/international DJ can’t do, Idris also produced and co-created the show. And just last month we got to see his first comedy show In the Long Run, in which he plays Sierra Leonean immigrant Walter, who’s bringing up a family in 1980s London.
It’s a new phase for the Luther star, who came to prominence as drug lord Stringer Bell in The Wire, before going on to star in critically acclaimed films like Molly’s Game and Beasts of No Nation, and produce hard-hitting dramas like Guerrilla. And let’s not forgot his recent directorial debut with Yardie.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised that he’s now branching out into comedy. Super fans will recall that Idris’s first ever TV role was in fact this cameo in comedy classic Absolutely Fabulous.
Are you looking forward to seeing more of Idris’s funny side?