The Evening Standard interviews Henry Lloyd-Hughes

Inbetweeners star Henry Lloyd-Hughes switches political sides for new Hampstead Theatre play

Henry Lloyd-Hughes has already played David Miliband on TV and now he is crossing the political divide to portray a prominent Tory politician.

The Inbetweeners actor, who starred in Channel 4’s satirical docudrama Miliband Of Brothers, plays Rory Stewart in a play about his adventures in Iraq.

Occupational Hazards, opening at the Hampstead Theatre on April 28, is based on Mr Stewart’s memoirs of his time as a British diplomat governing a province in newly liberated Iraq before he was elected as an MP in 2010.

His attempts to help govern the new country as religious sectarianism took hold formed the basis of an award-winning book and have now been transferred to the stage.

Lloyd-Hughes, 31, who played bully Donovan in C4 comedy Inbetweeners, said he was not worried about playing a real-life character with a high public profile and that it was an advantage to be able to easily access footage of Mr Stewart talking about his stint in Iraq. He said: “It is great because you get loads of tools to start with and you can take as much as is helpful.”

The actor said Stephen Brown’s “amazing, articulate” script would try to show how Iraq came to be in the state it is in now. He said: “It will look at that and understand why the Iraq of 2017 still feels like a work in progress."

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