NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. (SOUNDBITE OF NORSE FOUNDRY'S "SAPPHIRE LOTUS")Ĭopyright © 2022 NPR. The second season of "Starstruck" is streaming on HBO Max. KURTZLEBEN: That was NPR pop culture correspondent Linda Holmes joining us. And then, of course, she just feels unglamorous when she's next to this very glamorous celebrity. And that's on top of the fact that actors travel a lot. It's insightful about the fact that it could mess with your head and how it could force you into this kind of universe of unreasonable expectations.
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And this is kind of a show about what it would be like to try to date a huge movie star if you saw yourself as a regular person not accustomed to fans and publicists - Minnie Driver has a great small role as Tom's agent - and just sort of ended up adrift in that celebrity world. HOLMES: Well, we always see a lot of hot famous people dating other hot famous people. So I'm wondering, what do you think "Starstruck" is trying to say about fame and being famous? It's that Tom is famous and famously hot, and she just doesn't see herself as a natural partner for somebody like that. And one of the most fascinating things about this show is that one of its central conflicts is, in a big way, in Jessie's head. But I think like a lot of romantic comedies, it runs on that chemistry between the leads. And that movie star, named Tom Kapoor, is played by the extremely handsome and charming Nikesh Patel. And the character just finds it very hard to believe that this movie star is interested in her. She's just this wonderful, high-energy lead.
HOLMES: Well, for one thing, Jessie, who is played by the show creator, Rose Matafeo, is a kind of rom-com heroine we just don't see nearly enough.
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KURTZLEBEN: Well, there is a lot to like about it, but what else is it about the series that inspires so much devotion among its diehard fans? But it does have a very devoted romantic comedy audience. And a lot of people are still catching up with this show. The second season, which is also six episodes, aired a couple of months ago in the U.K., and it's just now coming to streaming here. The first season, which was six episodes, was made for the BBC, and then that started streaming on HBO Max a couple of months later - so in June of last year. So the United States is just getting this second season of "Starstruck," but as I understand it, it's not an entirely new season. KURTZLEBEN: It's great to talk about something that is so genuinely good. Thank you for having me, particularly to talk about this show that I like so much. KURTZLEBEN: Pop culture correspondent Linda Holmes is here to talk about this unusual and very charming love story. I have been ruining my own life for, like, years now. ROSE MATAFEO: (As Jessie) I'm sorry I have been having a moderate nervous breakdown for 12 hours. NIKESH PATEL: (As Tom) I'm sorry I booked you a plane ticket home. In the second season, now streaming on HBO Max, Jessie and Tom have to figure out, OK, what now? In the first season, we see the two grow close, culminating in a grand romantic moment wherein Jessie decides not to get on a plane and leave the country as she had planned. Created by and starring New Zealander comedian Rose Matafeo, it focuses on a woman in London named Jessie who lives that fantasy when she starts dating Tom, a popular and very handsome movie star. The fantasy of dating a movie star has a certain appeal, but what would it really be like? The romantic comedy series "Starstruck" focuses on this very question.
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