91Èȱ¬

Actor, dancer and performer Layton Williams made his West End debut as Billy Elliot at the age of 12, before going on to star in the musical Everybody's Talking About Jamie.

Layton's first TV appearance was alongside Olivia Colman in the 91Èȱ¬ comedy Beautiful People, but he is perhaps best known as the flamboyant student-turned-teacher Stephen Carmichael on 91Èȱ¬ Three's Bad Education.

And in 2023, he was a runner-up on Strictly Come Dancing.

As Bad Education returns for its fifth series, Layton looks back at some of the biggest "first moments" in his life and career…

"Billy Elliot was my first ever audition. My auntie saw an ad in the local paper for an open audition that said: 'Looking for talented young boys of all races'. I'd been doing dance classes for maybe six or seven months, and I thought: 'Why not?'

"I very nearly turned around and left because I was the only black person in the room. The only reason I stayed was because my step dad forced me to go in because we'd come all the way there. And the rest is history.

"Not many people know this, but I was considered for Michael [Billy's gay friend] first. I actually played Michael twice. They were about to cancel the show, but I knew the part.

"I had so much fun going out there being this fabulous little queen."

"I was very good at just playing a straight boy. I grew up in an estate in Bury, quite a rough one, so I had to have my wits about me.

"As queer people, we just have to go through that, unfortunately. Because we grow up in a society feeling people like us are not going to be accepted. I was able to channel that into Billy.

"But my first weeks in London - working with teachers who were happy, thriving gay men - was so inspiring to someone who was not there yet.

"I messaged one of them when I was doing Strictly actually, because of all the flips and tricks I used on the show he had taught me when I was 12."

"Beautiful People was my second audition ever. I was at stage school and I just thought: 'Let's see what this is about.'

"To get the role of Kylie [a flamboyant young fashionista] I'd come in every time with a different bag, or a cheeky little scarf around my neck, or a pair of sunnies. Just giving them a whole other moment.

"I was very confident, because that's what I was like at that point. I was Kylie. I was living amongst the beautiful people. I was in London, I was living my dream, I was on stage."

"Between series one and two of Beautiful People, I had a whole different experience. I'd been expelled from my theatre school, I had to leave Thriller Live [where he played young Michael Jackson] because my voice broke and I had to go back to my state school. I was out of the closet, but then I had to hold myself back.

"There was one boy that made it his mission to try and tell me that I wasn't a star any more. I really felt like I failed.

"But it made me more determined to make it back. When I went back to London to film series two of Bad Education, I was like: 'There's no way I'm going to ruin this opportunity.'

"I got my GCSEs and then every single summer while I was at college, I filmed Bad Education."

"I was 17 or 18 at this point, and it was my first time on set without a chaperone. I felt like such a grown-up but also so nervous.

"Early on, there would be entire days where I was in the background and I didn't say anything. But I'd look at the scripts and think: 'I'm gonna make this a scene about me.'

"Jack Whitehall would then ask me: 'Do you dance?' And year by year, he would be putting in stuff for me."

"I was so shook. There was a moment during the first Strictly dance where the 'butterfly-nervous-sticky-feeling' was so strong and I thought I was going to collapse.

"But you smile through it even though the thought that half the country is watching you is the most terrifying feeling ever.

"I've just been away to Lanzarote, and the love thrown my way was overwhelming. All these people's aunties and uncles and dads and cousins giving me big bear hugs and thanking me for months of joy.

"It cemented my faith in the British public - all these people telling me I had been a trailblazer.

"I was really grateful to be able to be that person for young people."

Watch Layton on the new series of Bad Education on 91Èȱ¬ Three and 91Èȱ¬ iPlayer.