When you think of Idris Elba,DMCA the first thing to spring to mind might be his legendary role as Stringer Bell in The Wire.
Or maybe you think of him going head-to-head with Matthew McConaughey in the blockbuster adaption of Stephen King's Dark Towerseries, or hunting serial killers in the London-based crime drama Luther.
What you probably wouldn't think of are comedies and musicals. At least not yet.
SEE ALSO: Cool guy Idris Elba shows off his smooth 'Tonight Show' dance movesElba is keen to do more of both, though. At a roundtable event last year to promote his new semi-autobiographical comedy series In the Long Run, he spoke about his desire to try his hand at more light-hearted roles.
"I like it," explained Elba. "I like the freedom of it. I think with drama obviously you follow a narrative in a certain way.
"But with comedy you can on the day come up with something really stupid and make the crew laugh that actually might work in the show. I love doing that."
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable Set on an estate in 1980s London, In the Long Runis a snapshot of Elba's own childhood. Elba stars as Walter, a character based loosely on his own father, while the young actor Sammy Kamara plays Kobna -- a boy based on Elba himself. It could easily have been a coming-of-age drama rather than a comedy, but Elba explained that he was keen to keep it light.
"I wanted to make it a comedy because I wanted to try my hand at comedy -- doing a comedic role, at which I fail miserably!" he joked. "But that said it felt too heavy to be a drama; it felt like there was a statement to be made if we did a drama and we didn't want to do that. I didn't want to focus on racism from a point of view of like, 'Oh my God, this is what it was like in the '80s'.
"So we wanted to take a comedic stance, and like I said selfishly I wanted to... I wanted to be in Only Fools and Horses, you know what I mean, I just never got the audition."
So does Elba find comedy challenging, given he's largely starred in dramas, thrillers, and big budget blockbusters?
"It is a challenge, yeah, because if I'm honest I tend to overcook it," he said.
"[The script] feels very funny, period. When I'm acting in comedy I tend to egg it up a little bit. But I enjoy doing it because my old man was a bit like that."
"I never want to be that person that says, 'Oh, I wish I did it'."
What comes across most at the roundtable is how keen Elba is to take on new challenges, and work on the things he's passionate about -- and how he's not afraid to put the work in to get those projects made.
"Sometimes you have to sacrifice certain things if you want things," said Elba. "My mum and dad were very much like that -- they worked all the time, but never really achieved the things they wanted to. And I remember growing up thinking I'd rather just achieve the things I want.
"I never want to be that person that says, 'Oh, I wish I did it'. I just want to do it."
Aside from comedy and doing more work behind the camera (Elba also produced and helped write In the Long Run) is there anything else in his career he's keen to achieve that he hasn't done yet?
"A musical," Elba said. "I would love to do a musical. It's just something I haven't done that I would like to do."
Watch this space...
All episodes of In the Long Run(Sky One) are available on 29 March.
Topics Celebrities
NYT Connections Sports Edition hints and answers for February 15: Tips to solve Connections #145
Poignant picture of a girl scout standing up to a neo
'Runaways' is Hulu's first Marvel superhero TV show
Very good doggo reminds us all to live a life where safety comes first
Brest vs. PSG 2025 livestream: Watch Champions League for free
'North Korea VR' is an extraordinary glimpse of the world's most oppressive country
Selena Gomez's mom seems totally cool with her dating The Weeknd
The 17 NBA teams participating in the 'NBA 2K' esports league
Even Trump's Earth Day message was anti
Early May weather pattern will be especially extreme in Northern Hemisphere
Amazon Prime members gets 10% off Grubhub orders through Feb. 17
Teen who took her Harvard acceptance letter to prom deserves a crown
UberEATS starts serving in India, its fourth Asian market
Watch NASA's spectacular home movie of the first dive between Saturn and its rings
Precursors to Today's Technology: These Products Had the Right Vision
Nissan's solution for texting and driving: A signal blocker for your phone
'Handmaid's Tale' Season 2: Hulu renews Elisabeth Moss drama
Snapchat makes it way easier for brands to buy ads
Blockchain Explained: How It Works, Who Cares and What Its Future May Hold
Any app with human interaction needs a block button, period
'Rob & Big' star mourns Big's death: 'My heart is broken'Trump discovers a whole new way to embarrass himself on Twitter'Hooning' is the latest obscure term confusing and delighting the internetA small robot is here to help after a mishap at a major nuclear waste siteHP's new Elite x2 might as well be the Surface Pro 5 that Microsoft won't sellFacebook is down and everyone across the globe is freaking outIdris Elba posts open casting call, gets way more than he bargained forYou won't believe how fast this Microsoft plugWant to find a date? Here's where Tinder says you should work.Snapchat's constant evolution shows it won't let itself be crushed by FacebookGrammarly raises $110 million to check your typos and grammar mistakesThis brewery used 50,000 liters of human urine to make its beerGet a good look at Faraday Future's supercar in new videoPeople are hilariously confusing Emmanuel Macron for a beloved French cookieThe Amazon Echo Show is real and it's got a 7Amazon Prime's newest perk: Exclusive concertsHarry Styles hasn't quite mastered the stage dive yet, but his solo music sparkles liveWhat to expect from '13 Reasons Why' Season 2Everything that's totally wrong with that New York Times Brexit tourDude is so thirsty he actually believes that threesome invitation at Buckingham Place is real 4 takeaways from Chris Wallace's surprise climate debate questions Apple TV+'s 'Ted Lasso' might be the nicest show on TV: Review Star Trek reveals its first openly gay character iPhone users can use Live View in Google Maps to better share locations Google Photos gets smarter, AI Google's new Chromecast has a remote and an interface called Google TV Google celebrates 22 years with a socially distant Google Doodle 'South Park' residents will fill the stands at Sunday's Broncos game Guy carrying a peacock on the subway and no one paying attention is peak NYC The Boy Scouts are really, really sorry about that Trump speech Google's 'hold for me' feature makes the digital assistant wait on your calls President Trump appears to encourage police violence during speech Fake news runs amok as Trump and Biden prepare for the first presidential debate 'Crash Bandicoot 4' doesn’t add anything to the platforming genre Note from dog sitter perfectly demonstrates the struggle of owning a pup Researchers perform first gene editing of viable human embryos in U.S. Behold South Korea's adorable new First Dog A wealthy human just purchased Trump's drawing of, uh, whatever that thing is Trump announced a new chief of staff with a tweet and a;ldsfjalsd;fjsa 10 better things to do than subtweet a female writer on the internet