Leon Harrop on the 2022 BAFTA Breakthroughs: ‘After Ralph & Katie, I want to be in the lead role again!’

BAFTA Breakthrough is the arts charity’s flagship talent initiative, providing a springboard to creatives working in film, games, and TV. Participants receive unique professional development support from BAFTA, from coaching and mentoring to networking opportunities with BAFTA’s global membership of key industry figures.

NationalWorld’s Alex Moreland spoke to a selection of this year’s BAFTA Breakthrough talents, including actors Ambika Mod (This Is Going to Hurt) and Leon Harrop (Ralph & Katie), writer Jack Rooke (Big Boys), cinematographer Diana Olifirova (Heartstopper), and director Runyararo Mapfumo (Sex Education).

Below, Leon Harrop – joined by Ralph & Katie producer Jules Hussey – explains how he felt on learning they’d been selected for the 2022 BAFTA Breakthrough initiative, discusses why he loves acting, and talks about his intention to start writing and producing on some of his upcoming projects.

How did you feel when you found out you’d been selected for this year’s BAFTA Breakthroughs?

Leon: I was really really happy and really excited when I found out - it’s so brilliant that I’ve got something that I’ve wanted for a long long time. I’m so pleased with myself, and I’m so proud of myself, and it’s nice to have this Bafta Breakthough. So thank you!

Was there a moment when you first realised how much you loved acting?

Leon: Yeah, I want to be an actor because it’s something different to do. It’s something I wanted to do [since] I did a lot of plays at school. I wanted to have something different in my life - that’s why I wanted to be an actor.

Was there anything you feel like you learned on Ralph & Katie that you’ll do in future jobs?

Leon: I learned the script! And also different areas [of production], where I learned different roles - with Jules [Hussey, producer on the series] or Jordan [Hogg, who directed all six episodes].

Jules: Something that was new on Ralph and Katie, Leon, that you’ve never done before, was you had a creative coach, didn’t you?

Leon: [We had] a creative coach called Jess Mabel Jones, and Jess to help us out with the lines or direction. Like, I asked Jess when I started, before Ralph and Katie, to come to rehearsals and then she’s been helping us non-stop since.

Did doing Ralph and Katie change the way you think about your career at all?

Leon: Hmm. Not really, no!

Jules: Because you were a lead actor, has it made you think that you can be a lead actor more?

Leon: Yeah, yeah, deffo. Yeah. I want to be in the lead role again because it really was good [on Ralph & Katie], and also I’d get more days and nights to do lots of acting.

Do you know what sort of roles you’d like to try next?

Leon: I have got something coming up, but it’s a top secret!

Haha, okay, okay, that’s fair enough.

Leon: But I can tell you who I’ve been working with – I’ve been working with Jules, Jordan Hogg, Jess Mabel Jones, and my very good friend Pooky [Quesnel, who worked with Harrop in both The A Word and Ralph & Katie]. It’s something I’m doing with them at the moment, and I’ve got a meeting with Jess coming up soon, but I can’t tell you more than that.

Jules: You’re part of the development team on that, aren’t you, as well as an actor? That’s something you’ve talked about, that the BAFTA Breakthrough might help you also maybe develop some of your writing skills.

Leon: Yeah, I’d love to write. I’ve done a couple of plays already, for a group I go to. I know what acting is like so I’m taking it on board myself [when I’m writing]. I did a couple of plays a while ago, and then I started writing for fun, by myself – lately, I’ll do an hour writing, and then my arm is killing me!

Oh, it’s always exactly the same for me when I’m writing.

Leon: I also want to go do different areas when filming.

Jules: Leon’s only ever worked in the north of England, and this BAFTA Breakthrough might lead to opportunities to go to other places.

Leon: I’m filming in Manchester on the latest script, near Ramsbottom, but I would like to go… on holiday! Canada, or maybe something like that. Not just different areas around Manchester or London.

Jules: You’ll have to start working on your accents Leon!

Leon [Canadian]: Ayy.

Jules [Canadian]: Ayy.

That is much better than I could do!

Leon [Canadian]: Nayy.

Do you have any advice for any other actors who are just starting out?

Leon: Yeah. If anyone else is out there, you’ll do a brilliant job at anything [you put your mind to]. Do your best, deliver every single line, smash it, break a leg - you will get there.

Also, if anyone who’s got Downs [is reading]? Go out there, right, and show what you can do - because you can do it. I’ve got Downs, and I can do it - just go out there and do what you can do. Dance, act, do anything you want.

This year’s BAFTA UK Breakthrough talent selection include director Alex Thomas (Yorkshire Cop: Police, Racism and Me), dialogue editor Alyx Jones (Elden Ring), actor Ambika Mod (This is Going to Hurt), director Chloë Fairweather (Dying to Divorce), cinematographer Diana Olifirova (Heartstopper), lead designer Emily Brown (Alba: a Wildlife Adventure), writer/executive producer Jack Rooke (Big Boys), composer Jamal Green (TOEM), producer Joanna Boateng (Uprising), actor Leon Harrop (Ralph & Katie), and writer/director Marley Morrison (Sweetheart).

They’re joined by principal technical artist Morag Taylor (Total War: Warhammer 3), actor Nell Barlow (Sweetheart), writer, executive producer, and actor Nicôle Lecky (MOOD), director Paul Sng (Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché), actor Rose Ayling-Ellis (Eastenders), director Runyararo Mapfumo (Sex Education), director Sophie Cunningham (Look Away), director Theo Williams (Terms & Conditions: Deeper than Drill), and co-founders, creative director, and artistic director Zachary Soares & Luciana Nascimento (Moonglow Bay).

The US cohort, meanwhile, includes director Alex Pritz (The Territory), actor Amrit Kaur (The Sex Lives of College Girls), actor Brandon Perea (NOPE), cinematographer Charlotte Hornsby (MASTER), director Clare Knight (Back to the Outback), cinematographer Daphne Qin Wu (The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster), director/writer Ellie Foumbi (Our Father, the Devil), games programmer Megan Fox (SkateBIRD), producer Melissa Adeyemo (Eyimofe), director Rebeca Huntt (Beba), composer Robert Ouyang Rusli (Test Pattern), and director So Yun Um (Liquor Store Dreams).