Starstruck, season 2, review: a millennial love story with the heart of a Hollywood classic
It might have been saddled with a late-night time slot and a fairly generic title but Rose Matafeo’s Starstruck (BBC Three/iPlayer) quietly became one of 2021’s biggest sitcom hits. It clocked up nearly five million views on iPlayer, making it BBC Three’s best-performing comedy of the year, and was recommissioned for a second series before it had even aired.
Now that follow-up has arrived, largely filmed in lockdown. You might notice how many scenes take place outdoors or socially distanced. You might not. Most importantly, is the magic still there? Happily, very much so. This is one of the loveliest low-key gems you’re likely to see all year.
Award-winning stand-up Matafeo plays corkscrew-haired force-of-nature Jessie, a 28-year-old New Zealander juggling two dead-end jobs in East London. She’s mischievous, messy and confident in her unconventionality – but as we see later in the series, it takes a brave man to call her “kooky” or “quirky”.
The debut series saw Jessie accidentally have a one-night stand with an A-list Hollywood actor, Tom Kapoor (Nikesh Patel). She vaguely recognised him (“Do you work at the Shepherd’s Bush Superdrug?”) but didn’t discover his real identity until the following morning. Doing the walk of shame out of his flat, she found a pack of paparazzi outside. They assumed she was his cleaner and lowered their cameras.
As we return, the unlikely couple – “a labrador and a hedgehog who became best friends”, as Jessie describes it – are trying to pursue a proper relationship, even though he’s still saved on her mobile as “Tom Famous”. The ensuing saga takes in exes, phone sex, male strippers and Scrabble rows. Someone gets bullied by George Clooney. Someone else breaks a limb.
Minnie Driver relishes her recurring cameo as Tom’s hard-nosed but soft-hearted agent. Later in the series, Russell Tovey guest-stars as an insufferable geezer-ish film director in the Guy Ritchie vein. It is Emma Sidi, however, who steals scenes as Jessie’s hilariously high-strung flatmate, Kate – a relationship that Matafeo and Sidi share in real life.
An on-off romance between a movie star and a “civilian”, albeit gender-swapped, has been done before in Notting Hill, which is an obvious touchstone here. In true Richard Curtis style, Matafeo's series takes in weddings and funerals, Christmas jumpers, and heartbroken, pyjama-clad women late-night comfort-eating in front of the fridge.
Ye olde “will they, won’t they?” storyline is strung out a little repetitively but you never stop rooting for the adorable couple to sort it out. A brilliant scene on a boating lake will have you punching the air, while the script pokes fun at romcom tropes. Tom thanks Jessie for “saving him from the airport chase” and gives her a Joni Mitchell CD for Christmas. “He Alan Rickmanned me,” she grins.
From the jazzy piano music to the meet-cutes and misunderstandings, Starstruck feels like a Hollywood classic dressed in a millennial Londoner’s clothing. It takes a textbook odd couple set-up but executes it with swagger and charm. The fast, flirty dialogue feels natural and isn't over-written. Jess and Tom’s chemistry is sweet rather than sickly.
The six snappy 20-minute episodes – all available as a moreish iPlayer boxset – zip past, sweeping you up in their warm embrace. Like any female-led sitcom over the last five years, Starstruck was predictably compared to Fleabag first time around. This joyous second series reaffirms that it’s very much its own beast. Less of a sadcom, more of a screwball romcom. Just don’t call it kooky or quirky.
Season two of Starstruck begins at 10pm on Monday 7 February on BBC Three, with all episodes available as an iPlayer boxset
