Austin's powers

Michael Theo returns as an autistic young man finding his way in the world

- WORDS: HANNAH DAVIES, SEAN MARLAND

Warmhearted comedy Austin returns to BBC1 this week for a new eight-part series.

In last year’s opening season, we followed successful children’s author Julian Hartswood (Ben Miller) on a book tour of Australia, where he met Austin (Michael Theo), the autistic son he never knew he had.

Julian was initially reluctant to accept he had a long-lost child, but after getting ‘cancelled’ following a controversial social-media post, he decided Austin’s autism might help rehabilitate his public image.

‘Being cancelled seems to mean different things to different people,’ says Miller, who co-created the series. ‘Name one person who’s been cancelled, and everyone would have a different opinion about whether they should, or in fact, have been. It’s a thing worth making fun of. Anything we’re supposed to be frightened of, we should make fun of.’