--- title: "Starstruck" year: 2021 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/starstruck" fi1m_score: 79 critics_score: 80 critics_reviews: 8 published: "2026-09-17T04:09:12.294589+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T04:09:12.886455+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Starstruck (2021) Created by Rose Matafeo · 22m · MPA TV-MA · Comedy **Fi1m score: 79** · Critics 80 from 8 reviews *In a sentence:* Notting Hill from the other side of the bed, with worse flats and better jokes > Rose Matafeo’s half-hour comedy takes the oldest romcom daydream, the ordinary person and the star, and plays it for embarrassment rather than glamour. It is quick, kind and funny, and slight in ways it mostly manages to turn into virtues. ## Synopsis Jessie (Rose Matafeo) goes out for the night, meets a man and goes home with him. In the morning she works out, later than most people would have, that Tom (Nikesh Patel) is a film star. She leaves, tells her flatmate Kate (Emma Sidi) far too much about it, and goes back to a life that has no room in it for a famous man. Tom, it turns out, would like to see her again, and neither of them is any good at saying so. Six episodes of 22 minutes follow the pair through a year of near misses, bad decisions and one paparazzo (Daniel Copeland). ## Review Rose Matafeo’s *Starstruck* begins with the oldest daydream the romantic comedy owns. An ordinary woman meets a film star, and he likes her. [*Notting Hill*](https://film.one/film/notting-hill) built a whole film on it in 1999, from the man’s side, and made the star a visitor from another planet. Matafeo, who created the series and writes it with Alice Snedden and Nic Sampson, turns it round and shrinks it. Her Jessie is the ordinary one, the star is a pleasant man called Tom who would rather nobody made a fuss, and the fantasy is treated as an embarrassment to be got through rather than a prize to be won. It is a quick, kind and funny programme, and we liked it a good deal more than its premise led us to expect. The first episode does the set-up in a few minutes. A night out, a stranger, a flat the next morning that is much nicer than Jessie’s own, and a slow dawning about who she has spent the night with. Then she goes back to her own life and her flatmate Kate (Emma Sidi), and the series settles into its real shape. Six episodes of 22 minutes are spread across a year, so a season passes between meetings, and each time the two of them have had long enough to pretend the last one did not matter. The gaps do a lot of the work. Matafeo is the reason to watch. Jessie talks too much, fills every silence with a bit, and commits to bad ideas in full, and the series’ best running joke is that she is funnier than everyone around her and it does her no good at all. Matafeo can deliver a line, hear how it landed and start regretting it inside the same breath. Nikesh Patel plays Tom as a man who has been handsome for so long he has stopped noticing, and who is baffled and then quietly pleased to be treated as a nuisance. In their scenes she does most of the talking and he does most of the listening, and Patel makes listening look like a decision. It is a plain-looking show, on purpose. Will Hanke shoots London in flat daylight, without the honeyed glow the genre usually borrows; Jessie’s flat looks like a place that needs hoovering, and Tom’s world is bigger without being prettier. Four editors, André Rodrigues, Christopher Watson, Robbie Morrison and Nik Hindson, are credited across the three series, and the house style holds: scenes end on the reaction rather than the line, and 22 minutes never feels padded. Karen Maine, Alice Snedden, Jamie Jay Johnson and Matafeo herself direct, and none of them gets in the way of the two faces. We laughed out loud, more than once, at Jessie’s refusal to abandon a joke once it has died. Then, some way into the first series, we noticed we minded quite badly whether these two would sort themselves out, which took us by surprise, because the show had not asked for it. It got there by never once letting Tom rescue her from anything. Every good thing that happens to Jessie she does herself, usually badly, and Sidi’s Kate is on hand to say so. The flaws are the flaws of its size. The supporting cast in the first series is thin next to what the leads are doing, and one or two episodes rest a whole half-hour on a single misunderstanding and stretch it. Tom’s fame is sketched in the barest strokes, a photographer here and a fan there, and the series is not much interested in what a film star’s life actually costs him. A second series came in 2022 and a third in 2023; the third changes the arrangement in a way we will not describe, and is the least funny and, for stretches, the most honest. Against the half-hour romantic comedies of the last decade it sits with the good ones, less bruised than [*Catastrophe*](https://film.one/tv/catastrophe-2015) and warmer than [*Fleabag*](https://film.one/tv/fleabag), and it never pretends to be about more than two people who like each other and keep getting the timing wrong. Watch the first series in one sitting, which takes a little over two hours, and see whether you want the second. We did. *Fi1m score 79, published 17 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Every one of the eight reviews so far is positive, and the praise lands in the same place: Rose Matafeo, who co-writes and stars. Most critics single out her comic timing and her ease on screen as the reason the series works, with the writing close behind, fast and flirty rather than laboured. Her chemistry with Nikesh Patel comes up again and again, and several reviews mention the supporting cast, Minnie Driver among them, as part of what keeps the thing warm rather than merely brisk. The spread is narrow, running from good to very good, and the reservations are small. The Guardian calls the premise improbable before conceding the series is enjoyable anyway, and one or two others treat the set-up, an ordinary woman sleeping with a film star, as the least interesting thing about the show. Nobody argues it is more than a romcom; the only disagreement is over how good a romcom it is. ### Reviews we read (8) - **Evening Standard** (90/100, inferred): An early contender for comedy of the year, this freewheeling feminist romcom is sunny, smart, silly and relatable thanks to Matafeo’s natural screen presence, sharp writing and warm ensemble performances. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/tvfilm/starstruck-review-comedy-of-year-contender-rose-matafeo-bbc-b931085.html) - **IndieWire**, Steve Greene (90/100, inferred): The series delivers an exciting new jolt to the TV rom-com formula. Rose Matafeo co-writes and stars, and the show wisely lets its main character follow her own path to happiness. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/shows/starstruck-hbo-max-review-season-1-rose-matafeo-1234643828/) - **The Telegraph**, Anita Singh (4/5): Rose Matafeo shines as a likeably goofy heroine in this sweet, watchable millennial romcom about an ordinary woman who sleeps with a film star; it is elevated by smart writing and a lovely celebration of friendship. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2021/04/25/starstruck-reviewrose-matafeo-shines-sweet-millennial-romcom/) - **The Guardian** (70/100, inferred): The series is an improbable but enjoyable millennial romcom about a twentysomething who has a one-night stand with a film star; it stands out for Matafeo’s immaculate comic timing and convincing performance as the garrulous heroine, along with strong chemistry with her co-star. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/apr/25/starstruck-review-rose-matafeo-stars-in-a-millennial-fairytale) - **The i Paper**, Rachael Sigee (70/100, inferred): The critic praises the series as a grounded millennial rom-com with strong chemistry between leads Rose Matafeo and Nikesh Patel, highlighting its fast, flirty screwball dialogue and supporting performances like Minnie Driver's. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/starstruck-bbc3-review-rose-matafeo-sitcom-971806) - **The Times**, Carol Midgley (★★★★☆): Rose Matafeo makes the comic arena of an eccentric young woman having one-night stands funny and fresh in this original and uplifting premise; her performance has funny bones and is worth watching. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/viewpoint-review-short-on-drama-but-worth-further-surveillance-g80ds5zdq) - **Paste**, Annie Lyons (9.0/10): The critic calls the HBO Max/BBC Three series a delightful, grounded take on the fanfiction-style rom-com premise of an ordinary woman hooking up with a famous actor. Matafeo's lead performance, writing, and the show's natural pacing across a year of episodes are singled out for praise. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/starstruck/starstruck-review) - **/Film**, Hoai-Tran Bui (85/100, inferred): The piece presents the series as a fresh, wonderful modern rom-com in the vein of Notting Hill but with Broad City energy, mixing cringe comedy and bittersweet moments. The core performances by Matafeo and Patel are highlighted as what keeps the story grounded and swoon-worthy. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/582301/the-daily-stream-starstruck/) ## Details - **Created by:** Rose Matafeo - **Creator:** Rose Matafeo - **Director:** Jamie Jay Johnson, Karen Maine, Rose Matafeo, Alice Snedden - **Writer:** Rose Matafeo, Alice Snedden, Nic Sampson - **Cinematography:** Will Hanke - **Editor:** André Rodrigues, Christopher Watson, Robbie Morrison, Nik Hindson - **Producer:** Toby Welch - **Cast:** Rose Matafeo as Jessie; Nikesh Patel as Tom; Emma Sidi as Kate; Lorne MacFadyen as Liam; Inaya Miah as Poppy; Rohan Kumar as Hugo; Paul G. Raymond as Horace; Daniel Copeland as Paparazzo - **Runtime:** 22m - **Certificate (MPA):** TV-MA - **Release (the US):** 25 April 2021 - **Genres:** Comedy ## Where to watch in the US - HBO Max: streaming, uhd - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd - Hulu: add-on, hd - Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AR, AU, BG, BR, CA, CL, CO, CZ, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, GB, HR, HU, IE, IN, LT, MX, NL, NO, PA, PE, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SI, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Roman Holiday* (1953), Fi1m 88: The same daydream in reverse, with a princess on a scooter and a better ending. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/roman-holiday.md) - *Please Like Me* (2013): Australian half-hours about a young man who talks his way into and out of trouble. - *Catastrophe* (2015): A one-night stand with consequences, written by two people who actually argue like adults. - *Rye Lane* (2023), Fi1m 78: A south London romcom that gets the jokes and the buses right. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/rye-lane.md) - *Notting Hill* (1999), Fi1m 78: The original ordinary-person-and-star fantasy, played straight and from the man’s side. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/notting-hill.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/starstruck