Turn Up Charlie: It’s a new track for hard man Idris Elba who shows his softer side as a DJ turned nanny

This certainly isn’t a Bond audition.

Ever since Idris Elba appeared as Stringer Bell in The Wire, his name has been on the list of future 007s.

But you can’t only take parts that prepare you for a role that may never happen, so instead, Elba is playing a male nanny.

His character, Charlie Ayo, insists he is “not a manny”. Insisting on this point is about as close to a hard man as he gets. At least it is some light relief from the unrelenting grimness of Luther, Elba’s last TV role.

Charlie was once a big deal; he was a regular on the Ibiza superclub circuit, and even released a record. Now he plays weddings. But his luck could be about to change. His best friend from school, David, is back in town.

David (JJ Feild) is now a movie star who has returned to north London after a spell in Los Angeles with his DJ wife (Piper Perabo) and 11-year-old daughter Gabby (Frankie Hervey). It’s pretty impressive that one school, Haverstock, produced both a DJ and a Hollywood star but this is never acknowledged.

David’s mansion, with sports cars outside and its own recording studio, is eye-poppingly different to Charlie’s own domestic set-up. He lives with his exuberant Auntie Lydia and laconic friend Del, sharing one cramped room — which makes it awkward when he brings women home.

But that all might be about to change. David has a proposition for Charlie — to look after Gabby. Childcare novice Charlie is an unlikely candidate for the job — he broke up with his last girlfriend because he didn’t want to have children.

Meanwhile, Gabby has a track record of getting through nannies at pace, but perhaps a manny will have better luck. There’s a believable chemistry between her and Elba — they’re a charmingly mismatched duo.

Charlie isn’t straightforwardly jealous of David, it’s more that he is taken aback at how he and his school friend can have such diverging lives, especially when Charlie always thought he was the cool one. There’s no bitterness — this is a warm-spirited comedy. In that respect it is similar to Elba’s drama, In the Long Run, about his childhood in Eighties London.

The jokes gently poke fun at certain types: DJs who are loyal to vinyl in the face of Spotify and clear dancefloors with their choice of tunes; precocious children; there’s even a dog who steals something it shouldn’t (you’ll getit when you watch) in a Benny Hill-style caper. Elba is a DJ in real life, so there’s an element of sending himself up, and this makes him likeable.

As Gabby, Hervey has impeccable comic timing and a command of modern feminism. She’s able to play the agitator child, pointing out what grown-ups don’t dare to, but she also has depth, with sad moments that show she is actually neglected by her parents.

Her mother’s career is a clever twist — female DJs are in the minority. Gabby is keenly aware of this, observing that her mother downplays her own achievements to make men feel better about their inadequacies.

Elba seems to be enjoying himself, and London looks great — with shots of Camden Market in the sunshine. And later on in the series there’s a cameo from Craig David. Despite Gabby’s efforts to sabotage the situation, it’s all sweet, harmless fun. Who needs James Bond?