Original Sidmouth Youth Theatre Titanic captain talks of his new TV role

ONE of the actors in a new six-part comedy television series attributes his love of acting to Sidmouth College’s head of drama.

Edward Hill, 27, who played Captain Smith in the original Sidmouth Youth Theatre production of Titanic: The Unsinkable Dream 12 years ago, is now a regular on the small screen, under his stage name of Dylan Edwards.

On Friday, February 23, Dylan will appear as Mike, friend of the main character, Jamie (Sean Verey), in a six-part comedy series, Pram Face, on BBC 3 at 9pm.

Filmed in Edinburgh, the story shows teenage couple Jamie, 16, meeting Laura, 18 (Scarlett Alice Johnson) at a sixth-form party after their exams.

They have a brief, drunken encounter, resulting in Laura becoming pregnant. The series shows the big decisions they face as a result.

“It is about adolescents making the transition to adulthood and my character is a bit of an idiot,” said Dylan. “In his mind he is like James Bond, but in reality he’s an idiot, but a lovable rogue.”

Dylan, who comes from Seaton, played alongside Sean in Shelf Stackers and has appeared in Peep Show and The Misfits.

Now he is branching into feature films, making his first, Svengali, in which he is a lead singer with a new band, with Martin Freeman, who plays the lead in The Hobbit film.

But it is to Angela Davies, head of drama at Sidmouth College where he was a student, he attributes his love of acting.

“I did Sidmouth Youth Theatre and that is where I caught the bug,” he said. “Angela is lovely and we always had a right giggle.

“The year I took A levels I didn’t do a show and that is when I realised how much I missed acting.”

He studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff University and has appeared in Doctors and done a number of adverts.

Angela said: “Ed was one of those who rose through the ranks with SYT.

“There are always two or three every now and again that you get in your group you can see will take acting further. You see they have that potential.”

She said she worked SYT members hard because acting was a tough job to be good in.

“It is not about being famous, but about being good at what you do. You have to sustain it.”

Dylan’s fianc�e, Natasha O’Keeffe, is also an actress, currently filming Filth, about the police, “with a phenomenal cast of big Hollywood names,” he said.