After 12 episodes of push-and-pull, quirky New Zealander Jessie (Matafeo) and dreamy Hollywood A-lister Tom (Nikesh Patel) finally seemed to get their happy ending, wading knee-deep across a lake to declare their love for one another.
It felt like the show had reached its natural conclusion and it was hard to know where Matafeo could take the story next without falling into the perennial TV trap of dragging out a good show well beyond its natural shelf-life.
But, judging by the first two episodes of the new series, the writers have managed to pull it off, freshening up the format while retaining the screwball comedy’s characteristic cheeky charm, messiness and wit.
With its Notting Hill-esque premise, Bafta-nominated Starstruck started as a will-they-won’t they millennial romcom after the unlikely pair have a one-night stand (”He’s a famous actor and you’re a little rat nobody,” Jessie is informed). The first series was BBC Three’s best-performing comedy of the year, racking up five million views on iPlayer. On its return last year, we saw the couple navigate the ups and downs of their on-and-off-again relationship.
This time around, though, things are very different. It’s not really a spoiler to say that when we pick up with Jessie and Tom again, they are no longer together. An opening montage speeds through the demise of their relationship before, fast-forward two years, they meet again at Jessie’s best friend Kate’s wedding – cue lingering looks across the dance floor.
Now in their 30s, Tom has a fiancee in tow, Kate (Emma Sidi) is pregnant and getting married, and Jessie’s awkward supervisor and former admirer Joe (Joe Barnes) is going through a divorce.
Our heroine is stuck, however, working the same dead-end job she had in series one. “Just because everyone else is getting engaged, getting married and moving on to the next stage of their lives, it doesn’t mean that you should feel like a failure in any way,” the well-meaning if tactless Kate blunders.
The chaotic, high-energy Jessie viewers have come to love seems calmer and more mature in her “post-Tom era” – although she still has her moments. This isn’t a script failure, it just represents a realistic development for a character whose edges have been knocked off by heartbreak.
While Matafeo dwarfed the previous series with Jessie’s infectious personality, the excellent supporting characters are now given a chance to come into their own. There’s a great scene where husband and wife Steve (Nic Sampson) and Sarah (Lola-Rose Maxwell) deliberately lose their daughter in a game of hide-and-seek, while Kate is a consistently hilarious, highly strung presence. You do, however, end up feeling nostalgic for the cosiness of Jessie and Kate’s flat-sharing days.
A new love interest – and sparring partner – is thrown into the mix in the form of sharp-witted Scottish electrician Liam (Lorne MacFadyen). Time will tell if he’ll be able to bring Jessie’s spark back or whether she’ll end up falling into the arms of Tom once more. Previous series erred on the predictable – but this new chapter feels like an exciting one.
Starstruck Season 3 will be available on TVNZ on September 2
