Lauren Ashley Smith (A Black Lady Sketch Show) is slated to write and executive produce the U.S. adaptation of beloved British comedy series Timewasters at ABC, according to Deadline. The series was created by Daniel Lawrence Taylor (Connect) and premiered in 2017. It followed a struggling South London jazz band who find themselves transported to the 1920s. Following the destruction of their ‘time machine’ the group finds that being young and black in the Roaring Twenties is much more difficult than they had initially anticipated.
The U.S. spinoff of the series, which ran for two seasons, will center around four black New Yorkers who, similarly, end up in the year 1926 and their attempts to survive “and thrive in the Harlem Renaissance,” as explained by Deadline. The series will exhibit the difficulties of being a person of color in 2021 as well as in the 1920s.
Smith, who is also the writer and co-executive producer of the HBO comedy series A Black Lady Sketch Show, will continue to be included in this upcoming series alongside Kenton Allen (Six Shooter) and Matthew Justice (Attack the Block). It’s currently being referred to as The Untitled Time Travel Comedy and will be added to the list ABC’s current series in development. The network recently ordered the crime drama Acts of Crime and the medical drama Triage to pilot. The next series that is expected to be given a pilot by ABC is the drama National Park Service.
While information such as the cast and filming schedule is yet to be released, the original cast of the UK series included Taylor, Samson Kayo (Truth Seekers), Kadiff Kirwan (Chewing Gum), Adelayo Adeayo (Some Girls), and Elle White (The Other One).