'I was overjoyed to get the job - but I was also scared'

Harry Lawtey has left TV drama 'Industry' to play hellraising Welsh acting legend Richard Burton in a new biopic. Here he speaks to Olivia Petter about taking risks, fame and film flops

- Olivia Petter

The first time many of us saw Harry Lawtey, he was naked, glassy-eyed, fresh from vomiting on a sheet of newspaper, and rubbing a near-empty bag of drugs across his gums. Then we watched him head to the office. That was five years ago, in early scenes from the hit drama series Industry, in which he played an investment banker. And now, as the star of a new biopic of the Welsh film star Richard Burton, Lawtey slurs, stumbles and punches his way through a booze addiction.

"I'm not a big drinker, really," the 28-year-old muses over Zoom, smiling sweetly. "I was a late bloomer with alcohol so I had a few years of feeling detached from it. You learn a lot about the nature of what being drunk does to people and the kind of things it amplifies. I just think it's something to be mindful of." Thoughtful, softly spoken, and possibly even a little shy, Lawtey couldn't be further removed from the characters he tends to play. Speaking to me from his London home, he sits in front of a backdrop that offers various clues about his personality. There's a Beatles poster, several plants, and what looks like Nivea hand cream. Were it not for the gold-lettered GQ award behind him he was one of their Men of the Year 2024 - you'd think he was just another well-groomed Gen-Zer. Albeit one with an erudite vocabulary, a dash of imposter syndrome ("I still get a bit queasy referring to myself as an artist"), and a self-diagnosed penchant for rambling, for which he apologises after we spend 10 minutes discussing barriers for working-class kids in the arts.