Idris Elba has said his new comedy The Long Run reflects the less sensitive era he grew up in, when people were “thicker-skinned”.
The Luther actor stars as a father named Walter in the show, which is loosely based on his own childhood growing up in East London in the 80s.
The series displays a multicultural London and the scripts include some moments of casual racism evident at the time.
Elba, 45, told Radio Times magazine: “It’s good that that’s come across because in early, early talks that was something I wanted to be upfront about.
“I wanted people to be reminded that, as PC as we all are now – which is fine, it’s good – we were thicker-skinned back then.”
He added: “Not that it makes casual racism right, but actually in the long run we all got along with it.”
The star continued: “At one point my character’s wife says something like: ‘They’re English, they don’t know any better.’
“And there’s an Asian character who is casually racist towards Africans.
“We wanted to make sure it was a full picture.”
Elba said the series will appeal to viewers who want to “step outside of dreary 2018 – where everything is very sensitive – and just laugh with a community of people that you can relate to, one way or another”.
The Long Run starts on Sky1 on March 29.
The Radio Times is out on Tuesday March 20.