Chichester born star of Netflix's 'You' speaks on formative years at Sussex college on hit podcast

Chichester born and Netflix star Ed Speleers spoke of his time at Eastbourne College during the most recent podcast, hosted by ‘You’ actor Penn Badgley, who plays the main character ‘Joe Goldberg’ in the hit series.

The podcast focused on Speleers’ time at the college and how it shaped him as an actor as well as a person.

Speleers said of his time growing up at the college: “Adolescence was a formative time, the sort of school that I went to, the change to secondary is happening at around 12 and 13. Usually its for children aged 11 but where I went to a very privileged school.

“I didn’t belong there, I came from a very different background. I think that was very different. I was seeing other kids getting picked up in the flashiest cars in the world and I remember almost, and it’s horrific to think like this, but I was almost embarrassed to see how I was going to get picked up because it would be a clapped out old car.

"Going to a place like that from an early age, you feel a sense of responsibility to do well in an environment like that because for better or for worse my parents had found a way to put me through an education like that and sacrificed many things and sacrificed luxuries that I think many parents wouldn’t these days, so I did feel pressure.

"I felt pressure early on to achieve. I feel like I’m constantly caught between relishing that pressure and being resentful of it because it’s that pressure that’s constantly driving me, even now.

Speaking on his childhood, the ‘You’ star said: "I am one of three, but the complexity of that is that we have different dads. We all found ourselves at private schools, every one of us had a scholarship or bursary for us to be there. Interestingly, at that school age, my brother had been at the school before me and had struggled with some teachers and they were still there by the time I got there so they had it out for me because of some pre existing that had taken place.

"At the college, I was given the chance to play Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream. I was only ten and I just remembered loving the feeling of being on stage and having everyone in the palm of your hand.

During his tenure at the college Speleers wrote a play tackling the topic of paedophilia, which left teachers ‘stunned’.

He said: “From 14 to 16 you study for your GCSE’s and if you do drama, you have to create your own piece or use an already written work and reenact it.

"My friends and I decided to devise a piece about paedophillia, in particular young offenders institutes. It was taken from a book which was then turned into a film called ‘Sleepers’ and as a teenage I was fascinated by that film and I was also influenced by a film called ‘Scum’ which is a different idea but in an institution so we thought that would be an interesting thing to explore.

"It was all pretty much improvised which would definitely not happen at school nowadays. It was quite violent for a school exam piece. We got a really good grade for it though!

"It was very ambitious and very controversial. All of the violence and everything was all well choreographed and thought out but, one friend who was receiving a beating in the play, it didn’t work out sometimes and would get hit on the shins, but having worked in the industry those things happen all the time!

"My Mum was in the audience and she is the best critic that I’ve got because she was so nice about it. However a lot of my peers were stunned as well as a couple of teachers.”