ITV2 (UK) has commissioned “Timewasters,” a new 6-episode time-travel/period dramedy written and created by Daniel Lawrence Taylor (who also stars), arriving on the channel from multi award-winning producers Big Talk Productions.
Taylor said: “You don’t see that many black people in period dramas, or in time machines, so I thought I’d try to write about both. There are so many great people on board and I can’t wait to get started.”
To be directed by George Kane, “Timewasters” will follow a struggling four-piece South London jazz band who travel back in time to the 1920’s via a mysterious elevator in a dilapidated block of apartments. Our time travelling friends are Daniel Lawrence Taylor who plays Nick, Kadiff Kirwan who plays Jason, Adelayo Adedayo who plays Lauren, and Samson Kayo who plays Horace. Stuck in the past after their “time machine” is destroyed, the group decides to explore, before quickly discovering that being young and black in the Jazz Age is a lot less genteel and a lot more shady than “Downton Abbey” had led them to believe. Aided and abetted by a pair of oddball twins and some 1920s luminaries (including John Logie Baird, played by Kevin Eldon), the band are forced to navigate the parties and pitfalls of the Roaring Twenties, while searching for a way back home. All the while, not missing the opportunity to introduce the Bright Young Things to some of the twenty-first century’s finest tunes.
“Timewasters” is a Big Talk production, written and created by Daniel Lawrence Taylor. Executive Producers are Big Talk Chief Executive, Kenton Allen and Saurabh Kakkar. Josh Cole is Producer.
Rosemary Newell, Head of Digital Channels and Acquisitions at ITV said: “We’re really excited to be bringing a truly original and brand new scripted comedy to ITV2. Daniel Lawrence Taylor is a real shining talent and ‘Timewasters’ is perfectly pitched at our key demographic of young adults”.
Kenton Allen, Big Talk Chief Exec said “Daniel Lawrence Taylor’s audacious idea of 4 time traveling dudes from South London going ‘black to the future’ has been a joy to make from start to finish. It’s a brilliant concept with a cracking cast bringing Daniel’s script to life. As an exciting new sitcom writer/performer DLT has a very promising future via his whip smart exploration of what would happen if we could re-visit the past.’
“Timewasters” has been commissioned for ITV2 by Rosemary Newell, Director of Digital Channels and Acquisitions and Saskia Schuster, ITV’s Comedy Commissioner.
