{"id":18233,"date":"2022-07-09T10:00:57","date_gmt":"2022-07-09T08:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1678329"},"modified":"2022-07-09T10:26:11","modified_gmt":"2022-07-09T08:26:11","slug":"ackley-bridge-stars-on-impact-of-top-boys-ashley-walters-as-director","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/ackley-bridge-stars-on-impact-of-top-boys-ashley-walters-as-director\/","title":{"rendered":"Ackley Bridge stars on impact of Top Boy\u2019s Ashley Walters as director"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By James Hibbs\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Saturday, 09 July 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

When the fifth season of Channel 4 school drama Ackley Bridge<\/a> was announced back in the November<\/a>, the news came with a big update\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Top Boy<\/a> star Ashley Walters would make his directorial debut, helming five of the episodes.<\/p>\n

Now, as the new season gets set to launch next week, the cast have spoken about working with Walters and explained how he forged a relaxed, creative environment on set.<\/p>\n

At a recent Q&A, Megan Morgan, who steps into the role of Marina Perry this season, after being portrayed by Carla Woodcock in season 4, said: \u201cWorking with Ashley, at first I just kind of had to pinch myself a little bit. I was like \u2018this is crazy!\u2019 I first met him in the casting process and he was amazing. He gave us more time for emotional scenes, which is needed when filming is so fast paced as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s really big on energy, especially with Marina when I was doing my first scenes. I was very nervous and he was like, \u2018we need energy. She\u2019s a firecracker, she owns the school.\u2019 He gave us the freedom to play and really trusted us all, so I couldn\u2019t ask for a better director.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
The cast of Ackley Bridge<\/span><\/figcaption> Channel 4<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Meanwhile Yasmin Al-Khudhairi, who returns to the series as Fizza following her debut in season 4, said: \u201cIt was so much fun working with Ashley. I watch Top Boy and everything as well so I had to like rein it back when I met him. I was like, he\u2019s here to do his job, let\u2019s see if he\u2019s a good director. But his naturalism that he has in acting, he definitely brings to directing as well, which I really respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it does make a difference when your director has a history in acting as well, because he just does really understand. I think he has a very funny, chilled out presence as well, which really helps. You can tell when the crew as well are bonding with the director and it puts everyone at ease and it makes a big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
The cast of Ackley Bridge season 5<\/span><\/figcaption> Channel 4<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Laila Zaidi, who plays new teacher Asma, also highlighted Walters\u2019s role as an \u201cactor\u2019s director\u201d, and said that it helped engender a level of mutual respect on set.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI think a big thing is respect. Nobody\u2019s job is more important than anybody else\u2019s and we all need each other to make this show. So everybody respects everybody. He\u2019s an actor\u2019s director, he approaches it the same way we would, which really is so helpful. And obviously he\u2019s lovely and very talented. So it was just a really relaxed, enjoyable environment.\u201d<\/p>

Walters\u2019s series Top Boy is set to come to an end with its upcoming fifth season, which just recently announced that a Marvel star would be joining its cast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Catch Ackley Bridge on Monday 11th July \u2013 Friday 15th July, with two episodes airing per night on Channel 4. The show will also be available\u00a0as a box set on All 4<\/a>, where seasons 1-4 are currently available to stream.<\/strong><\/p>\n

While you\u2019re waiting for season 5, take a look at our other\u00a0Drama<\/a>\u00a0coverage or find out what else is on with our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0Radio Times podcast<\/a>\u00a0with Jane Garvey.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n

","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By James Hibbs Published: Saturday, 09 July 2022 at 12:00 am When the fifth season of Channel 4 school drama Ackley Bridge was announced back in the November, the news came with a big update\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Top Boy star Ashley Walters would make his directorial debut, helming five of the episodes. Now, as the new season gets […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":18234,"template":"","categories":[5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/ackley-bridge-stars-on-impact-of-top-boys-ashley-walters-as-director.jpg",1278,852,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/ackley-bridge-stars-on-impact-of-top-boys-ashley-walters-as-director-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/ackley-bridge-stars-on-impact-of-top-boys-ashley-walters-as-director-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/ackley-bridge-stars-on-impact-of-top-boys-ashley-walters-as-director-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/ackley-bridge-stars-on-impact-of-top-boys-ashley-walters-as-director-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/ackley-bridge-stars-on-impact-of-top-boys-ashley-walters-as-director.jpg",1278,852,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/ackley-bridge-stars-on-impact-of-top-boys-ashley-walters-as-director.jpg",1278,852,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By James Hibbs Published: Saturday, 09 July 2022 at 12:00 am When the fifth season of Channel 4 school drama Ackley Bridge was announced back in the November, the news came with a big update\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Top Boy star Ashley Walters would make his directorial debut, helming five of the episodes. Now, as the new season gets…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/18233"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}