New Netflix psychological thriller Anatomy of a Scandal focuses on a Tory MP who has an affair with his aide and is later accused of rape.

Sienna Miller plays Sophie Whitehouse, the wife of Tory MP, Oxford alumnus and former member of the Bullingdon club James Whitehouse, played by Rupert Friend.

But the younger version of privileged James Whitehouse is played by Ben Radcliffe, 23, a Leeds-born actor. Radcliffe’s mother was a cruise ship dancer and his father was a fruit machine seller, according to an interview he gave in Tatler.

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With his own childhood spent at acting and dancing classes in Yorkshire far from the incredibly privileged James Whitehouse, he used experiences at elite private schools he attended on scholarships to get into character.

Radcliffe, who has been acting since he was a baby, got into both the independent Sylvia Young Theatre School and boarding school Hurtwood House. He told Tatler at one of these, his roommate’s uncle was a Nigerian business magnate worth millions.

He added that his father used to travel with him on the train for two hours at the beginning of the week so he could board at theatre school in London for the week before being collected on Friday to go back to Leeds.

Radcliffe’s character is a member of the same notorious Oxford club David Cameron, Boris Johnson and George Osborne have been members of, and many of his scenes were filmed on location in Oxford.

He was able to use what he learned from his ex-girlfriend’s mother – among the 1980s first female intake into Oriel College at Oxford to inform his performance.

He told Tatler: “It was really interesting to hear all the stories. Like, as they [the women] came into the dining hall for the first time all the guys were on their chairs, chanting ‘no girls, no girls!’. So, I definitely got a lot of first-hand research for the role.”

Radcliffe now lives in London in Earl’s Court, where he sees friends regularly. He has previously starred in Pandora, Ransom and Cuban Fury. He’s currently filming American Apple TV+ show Masters of the Air, which will also feature Hollywood stars Barry Keoghan and Austin Butler.

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