Lily Brazier gives overconfident comic characters enough vulnerability to keep them worth watching. We rate her Michelle in People Just Do Nothing, though the early episodes take too long to give her something to do.
Fi1m perspective
A doorway is a poor place to leave Lily Brazier. In the first four episodes of People Just Do Nothing (2014), her Michelle is sharper than the men, yet spends too much time waiting at the edge of their scenes. We were frustrated by that sidelining, because she plainly has more to offer than a reaction to the men’s foolishness. Ruth Bratt’s weary Roch suffers a similar restriction, and the early series gives both women too little to do.
The series later corrects that, and Michelle gives us a better measure of what Brazier can do. Her comic characters believe in themselves long after the rest of us have begun to doubt them, but she leaves enough vulnerability visible to keep the joke from becoming entirely cruel. Michelle need not be sensible simply because she is sharper than the men. Alongside co-stars and creators Allan Mustafa, Hugo Chegwin and Asim Chaudhry, Brazier helps make the people in this mockumentary feel fully formed. She also contributed additional material across the series.
The move to Wannabe (2018), which she co-created, wrote and starred in, puts another overconfident woman at the centre. Her Maxine Clarke is a former pop star turned manager, and Brazier’s first series lead. That gives her room to build the character as a writer, as well as play her. The risk is familiar from the early People Just Do Nothing: when every scene ends in humiliation, we begin to anticipate the embarrassment rather than enjoy the character.
Her supporting role as Ros Platt in Juliet, Naked (2018) takes her into an amiable romantic comedy led by Rose Byrne and Ethan Hawke. It is pleasant company, though its explanatory emails can seem more plentiful than its jokes. People Just Do Nothing: Big in Japan (2021) brings her back as Miche, again with a contribution to the writing. For the clearest reason to watch Brazier, start with the series, and give it time to stop leaving her in the doorway.
Biography
Lily Brazier is an actor and writer. She began her career working as a production manager on factual television programmes before moving into acting and writing.
Brazier has played Michelle, also known as Miche, in the BBC mockumentary series People Just Do Nothing since its origins as a YouTube pilot in 2012. She appears in all five series (2014–2018) and the 2021 film People Just Do Nothing: Big in Japan, and has contributed additional material to the writing. She created, wrote and starred as Maxine in the BBC Three series Wannabe (2018) and played Ros Platt in the feature film Juliet, Naked (2018).
