Nathaniel Martello-White’s strength is letting actors be funny without making their troubles seem smaller. Just Act Normal gives us good reason to follow his directing, though his handling of suspense is less assured.
Fi1m perspective
In Just Act Normal (2025), the young leads are allowed to be enjoyable company even when family life is painful. Nathaniel Martello-White keeps the acting from becoming a contest over who can look most distressed. Working with writer Janice Okoh, he trusts the comedy to help us care about the family, rather than treating it as a distraction from their difficulties. We were moved by the series because that comic ease made the painful passages feel like trouble happening to people we had come to like. This is directing worth seeking out, though six episodes spent so close to family distress can be tiring.
His route to directing ran through acting and playwriting, with Blackta (2012) addressing the opportunities available to Black actors. The short Cla'am (2017) preceded his first feature as writer-director, The Strays (2023). That psychological thriller puts race, class and identity inside a genre built to make an audience uneasy. The choice fits his interest in finding satirical and genre settings for Black British experience. But the suspense can be heavy-handed and the plotting untidy, leaving the social questions less developed than they need to be.
His work with new and young performers includes casting from community centres and building confidence on set. He gives actors freedom and tries to reduce pressure, a useful approach to material that could easily encourage overplaying. That care is visible in Just Act Normal: the young cast’s comic assurance survives alongside the painful material. The roles require plenty, but we are not made to spend every scene admiring the effort.
He has also spoken of seeking heightened, concentrated images, an ambition that need not be at odds with trusting a performance. We would like to see that visual ambition developed without the forced suspense that troubles The Strays. Start with Just Act Normal, and give its six episodes some breathing space rather than making an endurance test of a family comedy-drama.
Biography
Nathaniel Martello-White is a British actor, writer and director. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 2006 after earlier work with the National Youth Theatre.
His acting credits include roles in Misfits (2009), Small Axe (2020) and Daddy's Head (2024). As a director and writer he is known for The Strays (2023) and directed the BBC Three series Just Act Normal (2025). His theatre work includes productions at the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company and Young Vic, and he wrote the play Blackta (2012).
