Bad Education’s new co-lead Layton Williams talks returning as Stephen for series four, writing his first episode and getting friend and American Drag Race star Bianca Del Rio to cameo.
Layton Williams has become a star of stage and screen since playing flamboyant student Stephen in the first three series of BBC Three’s Bad Education.
Now, he returns to the show that made him famous for a new series – and this time, the student has become the teacher.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen again. We did the movie, and then I was like, ‘okay, cool, it’s done.’
“But then I got this call from Jack Whitehall. I was in Hull, he was in Hollywood. LOL. And he was like, ‘how do you feel about coming back as a teacher 10 years later?’ And I jumped at the chance… after letting Jack stew for a couple of days!”
In the new episodes of Bad Education, airing now on BBC Three and streaming on BBC iPlayer, Stephen returns as a teacher to Abbey Grove after his showbiz career flops. However, Stephen sees his students as a way of kick-starting his celebrity life.
“Stephen is an absolutely terrible teacher,” says Layton, “but he is fun.
“He actually doesn’t do that much teaching. He makes his class his minions and gets them to help him. The teacher-student dynamic is definitely reversed.”
Stephen may not be Teacher of the Year, but Layton certainly taught the Bad Education series four cast some new tricks.
As a former child star himself, he had lots of tips for the cast of mostly newcomers who play Stephen’s students. His co-star Charlie Wernham tells BBC Three: “Layton was giving them loads of advice on how to make sure you’re definitely seen on camera in big group scenes. Barging your way to the front, making sure you’re standing next to the lead.”
Charlie says this was a trick his co-star learned on the original three series of Bad Education: “Throughout the earlier series, in a lot of scenes he’s clinging on to Jack Whitehall to make sure he’s got his best side on camera!”
“Listen,” Layton responds, “if the camera can’t see you, then what’s the point? My one advantage in the old cast was I was much taller than everyone else.”
He credits this with being the thing that made him a standout character: “I was a very expressive queen. I found my moment, and I ran with it. And so did Charlie. I think that's half the reason why we're here now, because our characters were so distinct in that sense.”
When Layton first appeared in Bad Education, he was already one of the more experienced actors out of the young cast. He’d made his West End debut in 2007, as the ninth actor to play Billy Elliot on the West End stage. He had also had a lead TV role the following year in the LGBTQ-themed sitcom Beautiful People.
Since the original series of Bad Education wrapped in 2014, Layton has had further stage successes in the UK national tours of musicals Hairspray and Rent.
At 28 years old, Layton has over 15 years of experience in showbiz – but returning to Bad Education was still a little daunting.
“The first time I actually stood at the front of the classroom,” he says. “I got really nervous. I'm used to sitting there. Now I had to command. It's not just doing your lines or whatever, you have to command the attention of the students.”
Keeping control of a classroom was not the only new challenge for Layton. Bad Education series four saw the actor join the show’s writers’ room and choreograph some show-stopping moments like Class K’s irritable bowel syndrome-themed musical in episode one.
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“Nobody knows about Bad Education like me,” he says of writing an episode of the show, “and nobody knows Stephen like me. So if anyone’s going to write something with Stephen, it should be me.
“So I was like, ‘I want to be a part of the writer’s process.’ The idea was that we’re going to have a really diverse, beautiful writers’ room.”
Layton co-wrote episode two of series four, which sees Stephen forcing his class to help him get ready for a big audition. He also got one of his former co-stars to make a cameo: RuPaul’s Drag Race US winner Bianca Del Rio, who starred on stage with Layton in West End hit Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.
“We discussed working together again, then it happened organically. They were part of the episode from the very beginning, and the fact that they could make it work was amazing.
“And then seeing this thing come alive that had literally been born in our brain, I’ve never had a buzz like that. I thought acting and singing was going to be it, but writing the episode was the ultimate buzz.”
After his twirling turn in that musical, Layton brought his dancing skills to Bad Education as a choreographer. “I teach students choreography in my spare time, so I knew that I could do it.
“There’s no point somebody coming in teaching me bits and bobs, because I know my body, I know how I can move.
“It brought me closer together with the students. Some of them were a bit less confident and I could be like, ‘no, you’ve got this.’”
Layton’s creative role on the new episode did not end there. “I was very much a part of the creative process when it came to the looks. Stephen is not from a lot of money but Stephen is very thought through. So I do not want to be stepping on set twice in the same look. Not even the same shoe, the same sock, the same glasses.
“It’s all about the drama. And Stephen is the drama.”
Bad Education series four airs Sundays at 10pm on BBC Three. All previous episodes of Bad Education are streaming now on BBC iPlayer.
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