The director of the upcoming Sky Arts series Urban Myths has defended the casting of a white actor as Michael Jackson, saying the decision was based on performance rather than physical resemblance.

The satirical comedy series, which portrays supposed events in the lives of figures such as Bob Dylan, Muhammad Ali and Samuel Beckett, includes a dramatisation of a road trip rumoured to have been taken by Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando in September 2001.

The decision to cast Joseph Fiennes as Jackson has led to accusations of “whitewashing”. However, Ben Palmer, who directed four episodes of the series, said: “We were casting Michael Jackson in 2001 and that obviously is a challenge in terms of the physical resemblance.

“We were really looking for the performance that could unlock the spirit, and we really think Joe Fiennes has done that. He’s given a really sweet, nuanced, characterful performance.”

Palmer said people should not jump to conclusions before watching the episode. “It’s a really lovely, sweet film. I’m really looking forward to seeing how people react once they’ve actually seen it,” he said.

Last year Fiennes himself defended the casting and described it as a “wonderful part”.

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Other stories explored in Urban Myths include Muhammad Ali talking a man down from a ledge in LA, Samuel Beckett driving the future wrestler Andre the Giant to school when he was a child, and Bob Dylan having tea with a couple in Crouch End.

Palmer said he had enjoyed bringing to life these mostly unknown stories of celebrities in unlikely scenarios.

“They are really lovely things to do,” he said. “For a storyteller they are brilliant, these really fascinating scenarios filled with interesting characters. We’ve taken lots of poetic licence. It’s very much taking those iconic celebrities and putting them into the mundane and the everyday, which makes for great comedy.”

Noel Clarke, best known for writing and starring in Kidulthood, said playing Muhammad Ali, even in a satirical setting, was a daunting task.

“Muhammad Ali was such a great man, you are never going to be able to do him justice, so I just tried to do my own take on him,” he said. “He was a remarkably funny man and he was able to think so quickly that, no matter what insult you threw at him, he could make it 10 times better. I think in all the greatness of his achievements in boxing we forget his humour, so it was great to be able to highlight that.”

Of Ali’s intervention in LA, Clarke added: “Even though we don’t know exactly what happened, we do know that Muhammad Ali legitimately talked this man down from jumping out a window, and that’s amazing. Can you imagine any celebrity today turning up to help someone on a ledge? They’d be ridiculed. But that was a time when people thought celebrities could do anything.”

The Shameless actor David Threlfall takes on the role of Beckett, who, while living on the outskirts of Paris began taking his builder’s son to school.

“Beckett’s humour is very dry but he finds kinship with Andre, this surly child who is bullied for his size, perhaps because of not having any children of his own,” Threlfall said. “And this has been written almost as a Beckett spoof, which nods to the careful way he himself used language.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Eddie Marsan as Bob Dylan in Urban Myths. Photograph: Publicity image

Another episode brings to life the story of how Bob Dylan knocked on the wrong door while looking for the home of Dave Stewart, of the Eurythmics. A different Dave lived at the address, and his unknowing wife, Ange, let in Dylan – played by Eddie Marsan – for a cup of tea while they waited for him.

The IT Crowd actor Katherine Parkinson, who plays Ange, said: “I liked that this was supposed to have some basis in truth. The unlikelihood of Dylan just turning up at a house, having a cup of tea, and managing to sprinkle a bit of magic on their life. I love the contrast of something otherworldly and domestic here.”

She also marvelled at Marsan’s ability to assume Dylan’s distinctive mannerisms. “Eddie, who you just would not think would be physically a convincing Dylan, completely resembles him,” she said. “He had some fake eyelids, that was all. He does a masterly job.”