Natasha Exelby’s TV wake up call; and Idris Elba set to get your engines racing

NATASHA Exelby, who was sacked during Ten’s bid to break into the breakfast TV war, is back in the trenches; PLUS Idris Elba gets your engines racing.

Exelby on assignment for TRT World in Europe following Syrian refugees. Picture: Supplied

She was the first fallen soldier when Ten joined the breakfast war in 2013 and the personality many regarded as the scapegoat for all of the now defunct Wake Up show’s woes.

But Natasha Exelby has found a new career — and a serious dose of perspective — working on the frontline of the world’s refugee crisis, as an anchor and foreign correspondent for Turkey’s answer to Al Jazeera television.

The 33-year-old, who was axed from Wake Up just 16 days into the failed experiment, is literally back in the TV trenches — speaking to TV Insider on assignment from a makeshift border town between Greece and Macedonia where some 44,000 refugees have been locked out of the Balkans.

Exelby landed the Istanbul-based role with TRT World (a 24-hour, English-speaking news channel) last October, with the help of a glowing recommendation from former Ten stablemate, Hamish Macdonald.

Former Wake Up! breakfast presenter Natasha Exelby is now an anchor on Turkish television. Picture: Supplied.

While terror attacks are on the increase in the powder keg country (much to the concern of Exelby’s mum), the jovial journalist is keeping her wits and her sense of humour about her.

Even at a distance, she weighed into Sunrise’s recent stunt with UN child refugee advocate and Sex And The City actor Kristin Davis — telling the star to lighten up.

“I just thought, ‘you’re there to promote child refugees which means you should know what these people have been through and you’re getting upset because you think you’ve been humiliated on television?’ Get a grip. Also, whether you liked the [skit] or not, one thing these refugees need is a laugh. There’s nothing wrong with introducing some humour into the picture, because no matter how bad these conditions are, they love to laugh.”

Her encounters with the many refugee children, some orphaned and making the perilous journey on their own, have been her most heartwarming, she said.

Exelby on assignment for TRT World in Europe following Syrian refugees. Picture: Supplied

“Those kids are unreal. I don’t have children, but I have nine nieces and nephews and I’m looking at these kids and see them in all of them. This camp I’m in now is 40 per cent children...when I interview them, they tell me why they were fleeing because their school was bombed and all their friends were killed. Kids who are orphans and are making the journey on their own because their parents have been killed by ISIL, or the Assad regime. Then my phone will ring or you’ll put on [US pop singer] Miley Cyrus and they go ‘Miley Cyrus, Miley Cyrus...’ and start twerking. They’re totally with the program.”

Giving little thought now to her Wake Up days, she joked: “mate, if what happened there put me in the foetal position then I don’t know how I’d be coping in war zones.”

She added: “Of course I was upset with many of the things that happened but to me it feels like a lifetime ago...like that time you were picked on in high school. Just forget about it.”

IDRIS ELBA IN TOP GEAR IF HE WANTS TO IMPRESS AS 007

IF the makers of the James Bond film franchise needed any more convincing Idris Elba should be handed the keys as the next 007 then the British actor has obliged by filming what looks for all money like a four-part audition tape.

The Luther leading man and speed demon stars in a new Discovery Turbo series (9.30pm, Friday, April 1), Idris Elba: No Limits where he shares his lifelong ambition and passion for motor sport.

He takes rally driving, aerobatics, drag racing and land speed records, with mentors in each discipline teaching him — and the audience — the tricks of the trade.

Besides looking sensational in a onesie racing suit, Elba’s pedigree for the program comes from his father, the actor explained.

“Rally driving was always on the TV back in the day when I was a kid. My dad worked at Ford and he used to bring home old steering wheels and I used to have them on my lap pretending to be a rally driver.”

Meanwhile, the father of two has added his dulcet tones to Disney’s 3D remake of The Jungle Book (premiering at NSW cinemas from April 14), telling UK press: “one of the main reasons I did it was because I want my kids to go, ‘my dad, he did that’.”

SAM MAC’S GOT NEW DATE ON BEST BITS

SAM Mac, Seven’s go-to guy for love (First Dates) and early morning laughs (Sunrise), has scored himself another gig - new comedy clips show, Best Bits (10pm, Tues, March 29).

The Kiwi format, to be filmed in front of a live audience in New Zealand each week, will feature Mac and four guest panellists who will play the role of Goggleboxers “only with comedians as opposed to randoms...talented randoms, mind you,” Mac said.

Last year, the network pulled a ratings rabbit with another video compile show, with the Cats Makes Us Laugh Out Loud series; and Mac — an unabashed moggy lover — is hoping to get in on some of that good fur-tune.

“There needs to be a quota of cats per episode and that was part of my stipulation before signing,” he joked.

“I’m unashamedly a cat person which is probably the reason why I’m still single. You’ve got to own it.”

His other prime-time hit, First Dates is almost certain to get a second season, despite the audience cringe factor.

“There’s a lot of people who hate that they like it...a bit like Justin Beiber’s new album.”

GOGGLEBOXERS IN DRIVERS’ SEAT FOR F1

GOGGLEBOX favourites Tom and Wayne (pictured, right) have made the starting line-up for today’s Formula One fun in Melbourne — joining a host of famous faces in Channel 10’s pumping trackside marquee (from 9am, Ten).

The Project’s Carrie Bickmore, MasterChef Australia trio George Calombaris, Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston, as well as I’m A Celeb winner Brendan Fevola will get their chance to meet one of the couples who critique their work from the couch in the series, returning to LifeStyle channel (7.30pm, Wed, April 6) and Ten (8.30pm, Thurs, April 7).

ONE TO WATCH: TIM MINCHIN IS IN ON SISTER ACT

DARLING of the West End and Cardinal George Pell’s clever character assassin, Tim Minchin has teamed with his talented sister, Nel for ABC’s must-watch documentary, Matilda And Me (7.40pm, Sun, April 3). Even if you haven’t seen the stunningly brilliant musical, this is a fascinating biopic about Minchin and how his childhood love of the writings of Roald Dahl proved to be the composer’s destiny.

TV GOSSIP: REAL MARTIN TO COAST IN

LOOK who’s been making a secret house call to Australia? Doc Martin star Martin Clunes has begun production on Islands Of Oz, a new documentary series set to air on Seven later this year. The well-travelled Brit will go coast-to-coast exploring and has “always been fascinated by islands, each one a microcosm that tells us something different about our world, and Australia’s islands have it all. ”

DON’T MISS: MARTA FIRES UP IN ABC DRAMA

MARTA Dusseldorp mesmerises as crown prosecutor, turned Royal commissioner Janet King in the second season of arguably the best ABC drama of the year (8.30pm, Thurs). The supporting cast, including Leah Purcell and the impressive young Andrea Demetriades, are no slouches, but through the sheer force of her talent and the extraordinary storytelling of Underbelly’s Greg Haddrick, this series demands your attention.

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