In The Long Run. Image shows from L to R: Kobna (Sammy Kamara), Agnes (Madeline Appiah), Walter (Idris Elba), Valentine (Jimmy Akingbola). Copyright: Sky
In The Long Run

In The Long Run

  • TV sitcom
  • Sky One
  • 2018 - 2020
  • 19 episodes (3 series)

Semi-autobiographical comedy created by and starring Idris Elba, set in mid-1980s Hackney. Also features Bill Bailey, Madeline Appiah, Jimmy Akingbola, Kellie Shirley, Sammy Kamara and more.

Mattie Boys interview

In The Long Run. Dean (Mattie Boys)

In The Long Run is the first big TV acting role for Mattie Boys.

Tell us about your character...

I'm playing Dean, who is the best friend of Kobna, Walter's son. His parents are Kirsty and Bagpipes, who are the upstairs neighbours of Walter and Agnes. That's how Dean and Kobna met. They go to the same school and then their parents are friends as well. They've just become close from that.

What's Dean like?

He's a bit of a funny boy, he's quite cheeky, but he's also a bit dumb and thick. There are parts where something that shouldn't be good happens, but he's like, "Oh, cool, nice". Yeah, he's a bit of a clueless person, but he's also quite funny and cheeky.

How have you found playing a character in 1985, a time long before you were born?

It's quite fun! The costumes are very... interesting. The funniest thing is all the old technology. It's probably quite a clichéd thing to say from someone my age, but yeah, it's weird that there were no mobile phones, and they didn't have all the big flat screen TVs in the house, they had the big box tellies. It's very different.

Your character is best friends with Kobna, played by Sammy Kamara. Have you become friends with Sammy?

Oh yeah, we've become great friends. We have a lot of jokes that we have and we always like hanging around, we're never in our own dressing rooms, we're always in each other's, playing around. We're pretty much the same off screen as our characters are on screen - they're cheeky too! Always causing trouble...

What's it been like working with people like Bill Bailey and Idris Elba?

It's been fun. They're so... I don't know if 'down to earth' is the right phrase, but they're just like normal human beings. There are some people who could literally be like, "No, don't talk to me, I'm too famous for you". But no, Bill, he's really funny, we talk to him. And Idris, before we were filming one of the scenes in the studios, we were all freestyle rapping together.

What's been your highlight from the shoot?

It's cool when you walk on to set, in the studios, and there's just this big wooden box. But then you walk inside and oh, it's an apartment! From the outside it just looks like a box, that's really cool.

Is this your first job?

This is my first big thing, I've done some small things in the past, but yeah, this is my first proper television thing. And I've loved it - it's so much fun.

Published: Monday 26th March 2018

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