'In The Long Run' role was therapy for Idris Elba

Idris Elba

Actor Idris Elba says his role as Walter in his new semi-autobiographical comedy "In The Long Run" was like therapy to him in the context of his father's death. Elba says it was "emotional" playing the part because there were such strong parallels with his own father who passed away four years ago, reports metro.co.uk.

"My dad only passed about four years ago. It was emotional. Dressing up like him, it was good therapy. My dad was quite funny and a life of the party kind of guy," he said.

In the show, Walter helps his younger brother to settle down in England, having arrived in the country from Sierra Leone. Elba also justified incorporating "casual racism" in the new show. "There is casual racism in our show and it's important to show that because that's exactly what it was like, rightly or wrongly," he said.

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