Co-founder and senior colourist at Residence Pictures, Paul Harrison, explains what went into six-part drama
There are jobs where you work to polish, and then there are jobs where you work to preserve – to hold onto the rawness, the edge, the energy that you see on the surface as well as infused throughout the production. Just Act Normal, the new six-part BBC drama, falls squarely into the latter. A darkly comic exploration of identity, survival and dysfunction, set against the backdrop of Birmingham’s underbelly, it demanded a colour grade that was brave, unflinching, and full of intention.
Directed by Nathaniel Martello-White (The Strays) with sharp wit and raw emotion, and created and written by award-winning Janice Okoh (Sanditon, Hetty Feather) Just Act Normal is a six-part series based on Janice’s play Three Birds, winner of the prestigious Bruntwood Playwriting Prize, and is made for BBC iPlayer and BBC3 by The Forge Entertainment (The Buccaneers, Help, Ackley Bridge). Adam Barnett was the brilliant DOP. Residence Pictures handled the colour grade, picture post and delivery.
The series is very much anchored by the incredible breakout performances from Chenée Taylor, Kaydrah Walker-Wilkie and Akins Subair who play three siblings hiding a terrible family secret.
Just Act Normal never plays it safe, and neither could we in post. From the very first cut, it was clear that the visuals needed to walk a tightrope: gritty but not grim, heightened but not glossy, stylish but not quite stylised. It had to feel lived-in, unpredictable, and as personality driven as the characters.
Birmingham gave us an incredible canvas to work with. The show moves through backstreets, high-rises, community centres, homes, high streets – and every space tells a story. In the grade, we worked to preserve that sense of place, leaning into deep shadows, orange glows, and the grey-blue textures of overcast skies and fluorescent-lit interiors. But within what could be an overly familiar British palette, we found opportunities to make the most of the very deliberate use of colour – bold, reds pink, green. We wanted to echo the characters’ chaos and the absurdity woven into the drama, and lean into their colourful and often retro-feeling wardrobe and backdrops to inject life and vibrance.
One of the big challenges was tonally managing the show’s shifts. This isn’t a straightforward comedy, nor a straight-up drama. It’s surreal at times, nearly political at others, and occasionally breaks its own rules, and the look had to reflect that fluidity. There are moments of deadpan humour that play out in cold, wide frames with barely a shift in tone, and others where emotion erupts, and the world becomes hyper-real. In those scenes, we’d subtly lift saturation, push contrast, or introduce colour casts that heighten the tension. But always with restraint. The colour grade had to feel like a co-conspirator in the chaos – not drawing attention to itself, but helping to hold the viewer in that strange, uncomfortable space.
The performances in Just Act Normal are magnetic, especially from the three, unknown leads – I am sure not to be unknown much longer. We were determined not to interfere with the honesty of their faces. Natural skin tones were non-negotiable, we softened selectively, kept the grade clean and detailed, and avoided the urge to over stylise scenes that are meant to feel raw. And that meant sometimes embracing imperfection, the streetlights, the greyness of rainy days, the messiness of a frame where life hasn’t been tidied up for camera.
At the same time, this is a BBC primetime show, and it had to look the part. So while we let the story lead, we still gave it a high-end finish with deep hues, crisp detail, and balanced contrast. Working closely with the director Nathaniel and DOP Adam, we shaped each scene to feel cohesive, cinematic, and tailored for a range of viewing platforms and audiences. That’s especially important when you’re trying to engage both younger and older viewers, you need a look that’s bold enough to grab attention, but refined enough to hold it.
Just Act Normal is brave, darkly funny, unsettling, and deeply human. As a colourist, your job on a series like this is not to control it, but to listen to it, to understand its rhythm, its bite, its heart – and then reflect that back through every shadow, every frame of colour, and every flicker of light.
Paul Harrison is co-founder and senior colourist at Residence Pictures
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