Actor Idris Elba’s latest creation is a high-energy, cliffhanger TV series about an airline hijack which the British star describes as “pure escapism”.

Speaking to the ABC’s 7.30, he described jumping on the idea when it was suggested by his writer-collaborator, George Kay.

“‘How would I feel about something quite simple, like a hijack?’ And I said, great idea. But how can we turn it on its head, so it becomes something that you’ve never seen before?”

The new idea was an old idea, a narrative told in real time.

“It’s a 7-hour flight, and it’s seven episodes, and each minute is accounted for, and just really allowed us as creators to take the audience through every single decision.”

Elba was co-executive producer on the series made by his production company, Green Door Pictures, for Apple TV Plus.

He says the minute-by-minute storyline increased the intensity of each shift.

“It’s about what do we do next? Who says what next, what happens now … what’s going to happen to the plane, and so really allows us to really stretch that out.”

The idea for a hijack narrative came from a moment experienced by co-writer George Kay on the Eurostar train between Paris and London.

A sudden stop made Kay look around at other people on the train and wonder what they would do if the situation turned into a hijack.

The cause was more mundane, but the concept for the series was born.

Elba plays an unusual hero, a negotiator from the business world of mergers and acquisitions.

“It was really important not to play the sort of negotiator that’s coming in all brawn … these people are very smart, very good at playing host, very good at pitting people against each other.”

Challenging audience expectations

The British superstar likes the idea of challenging audience expectations.

“They look at Idris like: ‘This is Idris, this is definitely Idris because I’ve seen him in other things.’ And then you’ve got to subvert things they know about you and then embed them in into the film, into the character.”

Elba got his big break in the cultural phenomenon that was the 2002 US TV crime series, The Wire.

Showrunner David Simon, who created the gritty Baltimore cop story, cast Elba as Stringer Bell, lieutenant to a drug kingpin.

Elba regards it as one of the luckiest breaks of his career. Despite the film and TV roles that followed, he told 7.30 he does not think he has changed much.

He does concede he is more mature.

“I settled in. I feel a lot more confident. In The Wire, I was confident with myself, but I didn’t know as much as I know now.

“But if I’m honest, I say I’m the same person, you know, I still feel very giddy when I get a script and get an offer. And like, wow, they want me. I still feel like that. I love that.”

Elba has been successful across multiple genres, especially music, recording with international artists and performing recently at Coachella.

One of his latest projects was creating an EP, Cordi Elba, with Australian band Lime Cordiale.

“We got to the session and they were like, so if you’ve got any other ideas, and I was like I do actually, in my laptop, and they were like, let’s work on that one!”

The collaboration was an instant success.

“There’s none of this sort of like, oh, you’re an actor, you don’t know what you’re talking about. They were just open to the ideas and then gave me so much confidence … some of the best songs I’ve ever written I was in Australia, in Sydney, making with them.”

The range of his artistic pursuits — acting, singing, writing, even designing clothes — is a release for Elba.

“It’s freedom. We are all able to do multiple things. It’s just a level of sort of how locked in we are. Life is about variety.

“You know, tomorrow is not promised. But while you’re here, you might as well just have some variety and just do it. Don’t lock yourself up into one pattern.”

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