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'''''Timewasters''''' is a British satirical time-travel comedy series, 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 (director)|George Kane]]. The series 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 in jazz|1920s]], and later the [[1950s in jazz|1950s]], visiting the [[Jazz Age]] and post-war [[cool jazz]] period while experiencing culture clashes as they maneuver in the unfamiliar eras.<ref name="DeadlineIMDb"/>▼
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 drama]]s 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]].
▲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 (director)|George Kane]]. The series 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 in jazz|1920s]], and later the [[1950s in jazz|1950s]], visiting the [[Jazz Age]] and post-war jazz period while experiencing culture clashes as they maneuver in the unfamiliar eras.<ref name="DeadlineIMDb"/>
== Cast ==
Main cast (the jazz quartet):<ref name="DeadlineIMDb"/><!--ref for the four main cast only-->{{efn|Taylor named the four main characters after his four siblings.<ref name="CarsonRenaissance"/>}}
*[[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:<!--in order of appearance-->
*John Stoate as Homeless Pete, operator of the time machine
*Kevin 'KG' Garry as Curtis
*[[Liz Kingsman]] as Victoria▼
*[[Joseph Quinn (actor)|Joseph Quinn]] as Ralph
▲*[[Liz Kingsman]] as Victoria (series 1)
*[[Anna Chancellor]] as Victoria (series 2)
*Frankie Wilson as Terry, a member of a [[pompadour (hairstyle)|pompadour]]-wearing youth gang
*Kristy J Curtis as Rita, a member of a pompadour-wearing youth gang
*[[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:<!--in order of appearance-->
*[[Kevin Eldon]] as Professor [[John Logie Baird]]
*[[Nigel Havers]] as Dr Braithwaite, a
*[[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 ==
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|EpisodeNumber2 = 1
|OriginalAirDate = {{start date|2017|10|9|df=y}}
|ShortSummary = A struggling jazz quartet
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|EpisodeNumber2 = 2
|OriginalAirDate = {{start date|2017|10|09|df=y}}
|ShortSummary = Nick obsesses over time travel and is sent to a racial-stereotyping therapist (Nigel Hovers) who is intrigued by his intellect. Nick spends a week at a retreat where he is prepared for an overseas eugenics breeding program. Meanwhile, Ralph becomes fascinated with Lauren, attempts to propose marriage, and joins the French Foreign Legion when he learns of her revulsion toward him. Jason becomes a model and tries to get into the eugenics program. Lauren and Horace
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|EpisodeNumber2 = 3
|OriginalAirDate = {{start date|2017|10|16|df=y}}
|ShortSummary = Lauren tires of being treated like a performing seal by Victoria and her "rich bitch" friends, but reverses her attitude and joins them after
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|EpisodeNumber2 = 4
|OriginalAirDate = {{start date|2017|10|23|df=y}}
|ShortSummary = The quartet gain a regular booking at a
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|EpisodeNumber2 = 5
|OriginalAirDate = {{start date|2017|10|30|df=y}}
|ShortSummary = Victoria invites the quartet to her family's country estate, where Horace hosts a [[murder mystery game]]. Jason pursues Victoria in a game of hide-and-seek, but soon finds that he is being hunted by Curtis. Jason tries to flee and begs for his life when confronted by Curtis, who collapses while coughing blood. Lauren, delayed due to her fear of nature, arrives to help Jason and encourages him to hide Curtis's body. They return to the murder mystery but Jason's guilty conscience causes him to repeatedly confess. He tries to show the others but Curtis's body is missing, and tensions rise higher as Victoria plays along with the murder mystery then eliminates a pest. They find Curtis is seriously ill and prepare to return to London.
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|EpisodeNumber2 = 6
|OriginalAirDate = {{start date|2017|11|06|df=y}}
|ShortSummary = Nick spots Homeless Pete at the
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|EpisodeNumber2 = 1
|OriginalAirDate = {{start date|2019|03|11|df=y}}
|ShortSummary = In 2019 the quartet reunite for a sombre performance at the funeral of Horace's grandmother Myrtle. Overcome with grief, Horace decides to use the time machine to warn her. The others follow but find that Homeless Pete has taken them all to 1958 instead of "two minutes to eight". Nick becomes overexcited at seeing some jazz musicians and chases after them, getting into an altercation with a youth gang where Myrtle is pushed down and Len White, owner of the Blue Flamingo jazz club, comes to her defence. As chemistry builds between Myrtle and Len, Horace begins to fade and eventually transforms into a three-quarters white man named Martin. Martin flees from violent Lauren and the quartet enter into another confrontation with the youth gang, in which Myrtle is again knocked down. This time Myrtle is aided by Aston, Horace's grandfather. Myrtle immediately forgets about Len and Horace emerges from Martin, just as The One Ton Clam are called to the stage to perform. Jason reunites with Victoria, now in her fifties, and they all decide to stay in the era of [[cool jazz]], unaware that they are being watched by the mysterious Janice.
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|EpisodeNumber2 = 2
|OriginalAirDate = {{start date|2019|03|11|df=y}}
|ShortSummary = The gang stay with Victoria, whose finances are greatly reduced. Lauren covers their rent from working [[Bouncer (doorman)|security]] at Len's cabaret club. The Blue Flamingo changes to a [[rock and roll]] venue, so Nick revives a wartime jazz club in a [[Nissen hut]] in Victoria's garden. When Len rejects Lauren's idea to offer full stripping and lap dances, Lauren brings the concept and dancers to Nick's club. Nick is initially outraged until he sees the line of customers gathered, and they bring in a considerable sum on their opening night. Horace organizes the dancers and proposes a [[cooperative]], which attracts the rest of Len's dancers. However, Nick's idol, General Hands, takes one look at the club and walks away, declaring that he doesn't perform in titty bars. Although Lauren gains council approval for expansions, Nick calls Len to take his dancers back. Meanwhile, Jason becomes concerned that Victoria may have other lovers of his type and build, and very slowly comes to understand that her son Jason Junior is also his son. Janice infiltrates Nick's club as a cleaning woman and is ordered to retrieve Horace's smartphone.
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|EpisodeNumber2 = 3
|OriginalAirDate = {{start date|2019|03|18|df=y}}
|ShortSummary = Victoria throws a [[debutante ball]] to find a wife for JJ. Jason tries to bond with his son (who is five years older than him) and encourages JJ to sleep around. JJ accepts Lauren's offers but her conscience stops her due to Jason's serious objections. But when Lauren realizes that Jason thinks she isn't good enough for JJ, she sleeps with JJ to spite Jason. Paranoid about spy stories in the newspapers, Nick gathers all their belongings from the future to burn. Horace is trying to ask Janice to the ball when she learns about the fire and runs to Nick. Nick mistakes her for a groupie, leaving Horace feeling rejected. Janice saves Horace's diary from the fire, but as Janice reads it and understands his feelings, she abandons her mission.
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|EpisodeNumber2 = 4
|OriginalAirDate = {{start date|2019|03|25|df=y}}
|ShortSummary = Jason purchases a book on parenting advice and a copy of ''Time Bender'', which turns out to be Horace's diary. It becomes a science-fiction bestseller and creates a sensation over its mystery author's identity. Lauren encourages Horace to reveal himself so they can both make money. He appears on a television talk show – which Janice observes as she has been relegated to logging television programmes. Meanwhile, Nick discourages a saxophonist from starting a jazz club due to the difficulties, and realizes that he may have interfered with the establishment of [[Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club]]. Things become worse when celebrity Horace demonstrates [[UK garage]] music which becomes a sensation. Lauren pressures Horace to write a sequel, and Horace comes out as a time traveller but is disbelieved and dismissed. Ronnie starts the jazz club but won't let the quartet perform due to Horace's notoriety. Janice escapes her minders, Alexei and Vadim, convincing them that time travellers are real.
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|EpisodeNumber2 = 5
|OriginalAirDate = {{start date|2019|04|01|df=y}}
|ShortSummary = Victoria is away for a funeral and Jason worries that he's gotten fat. General Hands returns, secretly on the run from his creditors. Nick has Horace leave in order to please Hands, and Horace is followed by Alexei. Hands steals Lauren's money (which she skimmed from Horace) and fluffs Jason's ego, eventually taking boudoir photographs of Jason to sell to men's skin magazines. Lauren pulls Horace from the baptism to get their money back, leaving Janice waiting to be captured by the Russian spies. Jealous of Jason, Nick shoots his own skin pictures for Hands, who calls him creepy.
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|EpisodeNumber2 = 6
|OriginalAirDate = {{start date|2019|04|08|df=y}}
|ShortSummary = Vadim and Alexei pressure Janice for the ___location of the time machine, but she manages to escape once again. Victoria returns, engaged to the widower, rich MP Jonty. JJ breaks up with Lauren for leaving his pet to die of neglect. The gang find themselves evicted, Nick's club closed, and Horace has run away. They wander into a political rally where Jonty advocates to send recent immigrants back to the West Indies. Nick inadvertently invites them to stay on "his lawn" (actually Jonty's garden) and a crowd follows him, soon growing into a shantytown encampment. Horace joins the youth gang, wearing a [[pompadour (hairstyle)|pompadour]] wig to fit in. Vadim orders the spies to track Janice to the time machine, concerned about directly confronting the time travellers who are suspected of being highly intellectual with advanced technology and weaponry. Jonty discovers the squatters and orders them out. The youth gang arrive to cause trouble; Nick and Horace try to defuse the situation, reconciling in the process. Janice warns Horace that she has to destroy the time machine before the Soviet spy agency uses it to change history. JJ believes Lauren redeemed herself by helping the immigrants, but then realizes she did it to buy up houses from frightened owners. Jason leaves JJ with a cheap digital watch. They race back to the time machine but the Russians are already there and Janice has to detonate a bomb. Janice survives and kisses Horace. The gang fear that they're stranded until a girl on [[roller shoes]] speeds by, implying that she also has a time machine.
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== Development ==
The series was created by Taylor, who began working on it in 2015.<ref name="RTSPanel"/>{{rp|2:45}} He recalled that "I wanted to write a comedy for young black actors and I saw that shows such as ''[[The Inbetweeners]]'', ''[[Drifters (TV series)|Drifters]]'' and ''[[Plebs (TV series)|Plebs]]'' were doing well."<ref name="RTSHit"/> Taylor was learning to play the trumpet{{efn|Taylor had been performing as half of the comedy duo Ginger and Black,<ref name="RTSHit"/> in which his partner could play numerous instruments while he couldn't play any.<ref name="RTSPanel"/>{{rp|3:20}}}} and this interest led him to write about a black jazz band in the 1920s.<ref name="RTSTravel"/> While acting on post-apocalyptic romantic-comedy ''[[Cockroaches (TV series)|Cockroaches]]'', Taylor decided to use a high concept and added time travel.<ref name="RTSPanel"/>{{rp|3:50}} He wrote a [[spec script]] with the working title ''Black to the Future'',{{efn|The working title ''Black to the Future'' was changed following objections from [[Universal Pictures]], which owns the rights to ''[[Back to the Future]]''.<ref name="RTSHit"/> This film was referenced in the series two premiere, in which three of the quartet say they'd never seen it.}}<ref name="RTSHit"/> which was later changed to ''Blackwards'' and then ''Timewasters''.<ref name="BCGInterview"/> Although racial themes run throughout the series, Taylor has said that it is "first and foremost ... a comedy."<ref name="RTSHit"/>
''Timewasters'' is Taylor's first project writing for scripted television. He worked with an editor provided by [[Big Talk Productions]] and improved his script over a few drafts.<ref name="RTSHit"/> According to Taylor, the series came at a time when there were "discussion[s] about putting more black talent on screen".<ref name="RTSHit"/> His spec script drew interest from ITV, where he was already working on ''Cockroaches''.<ref name="RTSPanel"/>{{rp|4:35}} They commissioned a rehearsal reading.<ref name="RTSPanel"/>{{rp|7:10}} 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.<ref name="RTSHit"/><ref name="RTSPanel"/>{{rp|8:40}}
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The cast took lessons to act like they could play their instruments, but don't play any music in the series.<ref name="RTSTravel"/><ref name="BCGInterview"/>
Original music was composed by Oli Julian and [[Nick Foster]]. Foster posted the Season One Original Soundtrack on his [[Soundcloud]] account.<ref name="S1OST"/> Jazzy covers of modern songs include "[[Hey Ya!]]", "[[Return of the Mack]]",<ref name="GizmodoReview"/> and "[[Back to Black (song)|Back to Black]]".<ref name="GGA"/>
Songs in series 2 include "[[This Is How We Do It]]" (episode 1), "[[Flowers (Sweet Female Attitude song)|Flowers (In the Pouring Rain)]]" (episode 2), "[[Brown Sugar (D'Angelo song)|Brown Sugar]]", "[[The Cleftones|My Angel Lover]]" (episode 3), "[[Do You Really Like It?]]" (episode 4), and "[[No Letting Go (song)|No Letting Go]]" (episode 5).
== Themes ==
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== Release ==
The series premiered on 9 October 2017 on ITV2.<ref name="KhaleeliSubverted"/> The second series was first broadcast 11 March to 8 April 2019 on ITV2.<ref name="RT2"/>
The series had its North American premiere streaming on [[CBC Gem]] in May 2020,<ref name="Gem1"/> with the second series available in September 2020.<ref name="Gem2"/> The series premiered in the US on Amazon streaming service [[IMDb TV]] on 11 June 2021.<ref name="DeadlineIMDb"/><ref name="NewYorker"/>
== Reception ==
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Joel Keller of [[Decider (website)|Decider]] recommended the series, finding it to have unexpected humour in the way it treats racism "head on without taking itself ... seriously".<ref name="Decider"/>
Agathe Devionot of ''Just Focus'' felt that the series was a perfect fusion of comedy with the modernity of the main characters encountering cultural shock in the time-travel scenario. Devionot praised the "comic genius" of the main cast and the collaboration between writer and director.<ref name="JustFocus"/>
Ed Gove of the [[Royal Television Society]] (RTS) noted the rarity of an all-black central cast on British TV, and summed up the show's attitude toward race with a joke from the pilot: "People like us never get to time travel – it's what white people do, like skiing or brunch."<ref name="RTSTravel"/> Also writing for RTS, Matthew Bell of the [[Royal Television Society]] (RTS) compared ''Timewasters'' to ''[[Derry Girls]]'' and ''[[Home (British TV series)|Home]]'', for finding humour in dark subject matter.<ref name="RTSHit"/> Kate Holman wrote for RTS that the series "challenges the traditional period drama" and expertly draws comedy from the juxtaposition of past and present prejudices.<ref name="RTSRock"/>
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<ref name="BTP2">{{cite web |title=Timewasters |url=https://www.bigtalkproductions.com/production/timewasters/ |publisher=[[Big Talk Productions]] |access-date=29 August 2021 }}</ref>
<ref name="JustFocus">{{cite web |first=Agathe |last=Devionot |date=13 June 2021 |title=Critique Timewasters Episode 1: la série britannique à l'univers so jazzy |language=fr |trans-title=Timewasters Episode 1 review: the British series with a so jazzy universe |website=Just Focus }}</ref>
<ref name="S1OST">{{cite web |url=https://soundcloud.com/nickfostermusic/sets/timewasters-season-one-ost-oli-julian-nick-foster |title=Stream Nick Foster {{!}} Listen to Timewasters Season One OST |access-date=30 August 2021 |website=Soundcloud }}</ref>
}}
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*{{YouTube|0CSwBtqE-64|''Timewasters'' series 1 trailer}}
*{{YouTube|4RaGJtjDys0|''Timewasters:Production Focus''}} – panel discussion hosted by the [[Royal Television Society]]
*[https://soundcloud.com/nickfostermusic/sets/timewasters-season-one-ost-oli-julian-nick-foster ''Timewasters'' Season One Original Soundtrack] at [[Soundcloud]]
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