Exclusive: Waterloo Road newcomer predicts fan backlash
Waterloo Road spoilers follow.
Waterloo Road newcomer Osian Morgan has predicted fan backlash for his role as bad boy Myles Massey.
Osian, who was previously a series regular in Welsh soap Pobol y Cwm, has joined the BBC as Myles, who has been let go by a football academy.
Myles wastes no time making enemies on his first day, immediately clashing with fellow student Dwayne Jackson during a community football match.
This is a theme that will continue throughout the latest series, as Myles sets about to make a lasting impact on the school. As a result, Osian is not expecting his alter ego to be hugely popular among viewers.
"They are going to absolutely despise me", he said to Digital Spy. "I think it's going to be like Marmite – they are going to love it or they're going to hate it.
"There will be no inbetween. That is probably all I can say on that, but I can imagine most people are absolutely going to despise him. Just for the record, this isn't me. This is a character I'm playing."
Osian added: "If I had to describe Myles in three words, I'd say calculated, misunderstood and alpha – but in capital letters. His ego is through the roof.
"I used to play football as well for Cardiff City until I was 14. We know Miles has come into this as a 16-year-old and he's just been released from an academy also. When you are in that team, you feel admired by your peers in your school and you feel like you're on top of the world, and I really empathise with that having been in a similar situation myself. In every scene, he has the power.
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"What is amazing about playing the bad boy is that it was a collaborative and synergetic experience where we discussed whether I could go off page sometimes and do things that were quite impulsive.
"A lot of the time, Myles is very observant and calculated. I'm not really acting most of the time, I'm reacting."
Osian continued: "I think I did scenes with more or less everyone in the cast and I was always sussing them out. For example, if someone said, 'Go away' in quite an assertive way, I would change my performance based on that.
"It's basically like a dog with a bone – the owner throws the bone and the dog goes and chases it and just has the time of its life. That's what it felt like. It felt like the director went, 'There's your ball, now go and play'."
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Speaking about how he felt about joining the show for the latest series, Osian said: "I think it's always interesting when there's a new kid because obviously I'm slightly nervous.
"When you see someone new is coming in, everyone is gossiping and thinking, 'Oh my gosh, who's the new kid?' and everyone is on their Instagram.
"It is the most wonderful workplace I've ever worked in. It's hard put into words actually. Every single day was a joy. Everyone is so upbeat because it's long hours they work. Everyone behind in the crew and behind the scenes – they work endless hours.
"We don't work anywhere near as hard as they do but, as actors, we are the ones who get the credit. I think sometimes actors think they're bigger than the show, but it was such a collaborative and synergetic project at Waterloo Road."
Waterloo Road launches its new series on Tuesday, May 16 at 8pm on BBC One, with all episodes dropping on BBC iPlayer on the same day.
Read more Waterloo Road spoilers on our dedicated homepage
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