“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.”
