''Turn Up Charlie'' is a British

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air a ...

series created by

Idris Elba Idrissa Akuna Elba (; born 6 September 1972) is an English actor.

and Gary Reich. The series stars Elba as a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

who reluctantly becomes the

nanny A nanny is a person who provides child care. Typically, this care is given within the children's family setting. Throughout history, nannies were usually servants in large households and reported directly to the lady of the house. Today, modern ...

for his famous friend's daughter;

Piper Perabo Piper Lisa Perabo () (born October 31, 1976) is an American actress. Following her breakthrough in the comedy-drama film '' Coyote Ugly'' (2000), she starred in ''The Prestige'' (2006), ''Angel Has Fallen'' (2019), and as CIA agent Annie Walke ...

JJ Feild John Joseph Feild (born 1978) is a British-American film, television and theatre actor. He started his television career in 1999. Feild played Fred Garland in Philip Pullman's ''The Ruby in the Smoke'' and ''The Shadow in the North'' television ...

and Frankie Hervey also star. The series premiered on 15 March 2019 on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

. In April 2020, the series was cancelled after one season.

Premise

''Turn Up Charlie'' follows "Charlie, a struggling DJ and eternal bachelor, who's given a final chance at success when he reluctantly becomes a nanny to his famous best friend's problem-child daughter."

Cast and characters

Main

Idris Elba Idrissa Akuna Elba (; born 6 September 1972) is an English actor.

as Charlie *

as Sara *

as David * Frankie Hervey as Gabrielle

Recurring

Angela Griffin Angela Mellissa Griffin (born 19 July 1976) is a British actress and television presenter who has been active on British television since the early 1990s. She is best known for portraying the roles of Fiona Middleton in the ITV soap opera '' ...

as Astrid *

Guz Khan Ghulam Dustgir "Guz" Khan (born 1986) is a British comedian, impressionist, and actor best known for his work in the TV show ''Man Like Mobeen'' and stand up appearances in '' Live at the Apollo''. Early life Guz has two sisters who are ten a ...

as Dell *

Jocelyn Jee Esien Jocelyn Jee Esien (born 2 March 1979) is a British comedian, actress and writer of Nigerian origin. She stars in the hidden-camera show ''3 Non-Blondes'', and her own comedy sketch show, '' Little Miss Jocelyn''.Laura Barnett"Jocelyn Jee Esien ...

as Auntie Lydia *

Jade Anouka Jade Anouka (born 12 June 1989) is an English actress. She is known for her various stage roles and for her appearances in ''His Dark Materials'' on BBC One and the ITV dramas ''Trauma'' and '' Cleaning Up''. Early life and education Anouka w ...

as Tommi *

Rina Sawayama is a Japanese–British singer-songwriter, actress and model. Born in Niigata, Japan, she emigrated to London with her parents at age five. She is known for her musical versatility and has been labelled a "musical chameleon". In 2017, she ...

as Layla Valentine * Cameron King as Hunter *

Emily Carey Emily Joanna Carey (born 30 April 2003) is an English actor. She began her career as a child actor on stage and in the BBC One soap opera '' Casualty'' (2014–2017, 2021). She went on to play young versions of characters, such as Diana Prince ...

as Bea *

Dustin Demri-Burns Dustin Demri-Burns (born 11 July 1978) is a British actor, comedian and writer. He is best known for his work in ''Cardinal Burns''. He appeared in films as the roles of Danny Sinclair in the 2013 film '' Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa'' (2013), Vik ...

as Daniel Smith

Episodes

Production

Development

On 18 April 2018, it was announced that

had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of eight episodes. The series was created by

Idris Elba Idrissa Akuna Elba (; born 6 September 1972) is an English actor.

and Gary Reich who will executive produce alongside

Tristram Shapeero Tristram Shapeero is a British television director. He has directed many comedy series, initially in the United Kingdom and later in the United States. Early life Shapeero was born in Somerset and spent his childhood in Bath, where he attended ...

. Directors for the series include Shapeero and

Matt Lipsey Matt Lipsey is a British television and film director. His work includes King Bert Productions TV movies such as The Boy in the Dress and Billionaire Boy, Baby Cow Productions sitcoms '' Human Remains'' and ''Saxondale'', and Hartswood Films ...

. Laura Neal, Femi Oyeniran, and Victoria Asare-Archer will serve as writers with Georgia Lester also serving as writer as well as supervising producer. Martin Joyce and Ana Garanito are co-executive producers and Gill Isles will serve as producer. Production companies involved with the series include Brown Eyed Boy Productions and Green Door Pictures. On 3 January 2019, it was reported that the series would premiere on 15 March 2019. On 27 April 2020, Netflix cancelled the series after one season.

Casting

Alongside the initial series order announcement, it was confirmed that

Idris Elba Idrissa Akuna Elba (; born 6 September 1972) is an English actor.

would star in the series as the titular Charlie. On 27 June 2018, it was announced that

, and Frankie Hervey had joined the series' main cast. On 3 January 2019, it was reported that

, Cameron King, and Dustin Demri-Burns would join the cast.

Filming

Principal photography for the series commenced in May 2018 in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Filming locations included

West London Film Studios West London Film Studios ("WLFS") is a British film studio and television studio complex located in Hayes, Middlesex. The studios cater to small and large productions; for films, television shows, TV adverts and photo shoots. History Frank ...

Release

On 3 January 2019, a series of "first look" still images from the series were released featuring

Idris Elba Idrissa Akuna Elba (; born 6 September 1972) is an English actor.

, and Frankie Hervey as Charlie, Sara, David, and Gabrielle, respectively. On 28 February 2019, the official trailer for the series was released.

Reception

On the review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the series holds an approval rating of 52% with an average rating of 5.26/10, based on 37 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Poor writing and predictable plot twists dampen ''Turn Up Charlie''s fun premise — but those looking for a breezy sitcom starring the perennially cool Idris Elba may find themselves tapping along to its good natured beats."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 48 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Turn Up Charlie 2019 British television series debuts 2010s British comedy television series 2019 British television series endings English-language Netflix original programming Fictional DJs Parenting television series DJing