Jamie Jay Johnson is good at giving eccentric characters room to be funny without treating them with contempt. We value that generosity in Rivals, where a confident ensemble makes the excess worthwhile, even when the plotting grows tiresome.
Fi1m perspective
In Rivals (2024), naked tennis is given enough time to be funny, without an apologetic rush to get everyone dressed again. We laughed because the scene commits to an absurd combination of sport and nudity. Johnson shares the directing credit with Alexandra Brodski, Elliot Hegarty and Dee Koppang O’Leary, so its confidence cannot fairly be claimed for him alone. His contribution belongs to a programme that understands how much broad comedy depends on letting actors carry on without embarrassment.
Johnson began with authored documentaries and shorts in the early 2000s, before making his first feature documentary, Sounds Like Teen Spirit (2008). Its affectionate attention to young Junior Eurovision competitors fits his wider interest in eccentric people and underdogs. The move into television comedy began in the late 2000s, taking in An Idiot Abroad (2010) and Fresh Meat (2011), with Starstruck (2021) following. It is a progression that makes sense for someone whose instinct is to look for the funny side without dismissing the person.
On Fresh Meat, created by Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong, Johnson gives the ensemble room to improvise while keeping the energy up. The useful comparison with Rivals is the freedom afforded to performers, rather than any claim that the programmes share a single directing style. In Rivals, David Tennant and the ensemble know how seriously to take the nonsense, and the sexual comedy benefits from their willingness to play broadly. We would rather have that commitment than a director signalling disapproval of every vulgar joke.
The reservation is that Rivals sometimes makes its crowded plotting tiresome, however game the cast remains. Sustaining comic confidence across a series does not make every complication worth following. We rate Johnson’s contribution here, but the strongest evidence is for his handling of actors within a shared production, not for some unmistakable visual signature. Start with Rivals if an unabashedly adult soap appeals, and allow for the occasions when another plot strand is one too many. — Fi1m
Biography
Jamie Jay Johnson is a British director and writer. Born on 14 September 1976 in London, he has directed episodes of numerous television comedies and dramas.
His credits include Fresh Meat (2013–2016), Cold Feet (2016), Dead Pixels (2021), Starstruck (2022) and The Young Offenders (2024). He directed three episodes of the series Rivals (2024–). Johnson also directed the feature documentary Sounds Like Teen Spirit (2008) and episodes of An Idiot Abroad (2010–2011).
He has received BAFTA nominations and other awards and nominations for his work in television and documentary.
