Skins star Adelayo Adedayo and Chewing Gum actor Kadiff Kirwan will star in a new comedy about a jazz band who travel back in time to the 1920s in a lift in dilapidated block of flats in south London.

Timewasters will also star Cockroaches actor Daniel Lawrence Taylor, who has written and created the show, and The Javone Prince Show actor Samson Kayo as musicians who get stuck in the past after their time travelling lift is destroyed – leaving them to discover what it was like to be young and black in the Jazz Age.

Chewing Gum star Kadiff Kirwan, left, plays Jason (Ian West/PA)
Chewing Gum star Kadiff Kirwan, left, plays Jason (Ian West/PA)

The band will navigate the parties and pitfalls of the Roaring Twenties accompanied by a pair of oddball twins and some luminaries of the age – including inventor John Logie Baird, played by Kevin Eldon.

The six 30-minute episodes will air on ITV2 and will be produced by Big Talk Productions, the company behind Rev.

Daniel 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.”

Rosemary Newell, head of digital channels and acquisitions at ITV, announced the new show at the Edinburgh Television Festival.

Timewasters stars Daniel Lawrence Taylor, Adelayo Adedayo], Samson Kayo and Kadiff Kirwan (ITV)
Timewasters stars Daniel Lawrence Taylor, Adelayo Adedayo, Samson Kayo and Kadiff Kirwan (ITV)

She 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, chief executive of Big Talk, added: “Daniel Lawrence Taylor’s audacious idea of four time travelling 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.”