In Series 14 of Waterloo Road, which released last year, Olly Rhodes played Billy Savage across all episodes, working with a cast including Jason Manford as his on-screen father Steve Savage, Zak Sutcliffe as Schumacher ‘Schuey’ Weever and Nathan Wood as Boz Osbourne, and he reprised his role for episodes of this year’s series. Olly will be working with his Waterloo Road co-star Danny Murphy when he appears in the upcoming short film Don’t Look, which Danny directs, and Olly had his first regular role as Joseph Holmes in Hollyoaks. Further projects for Olly have been guest roles in All Creatures Great and Small and The Last Kingdom, recording as Jim Forrest in Almonds and Raisins for BBC Radio 4, and in 2023, he understudied all characters in Lord of the Flies at Leeds Playhouse and on tour. For Olly’s first feature film, he is in the cast of the upcoming film Departures, which will premiere at Manchester Film Festival to a sold-out audience before heading to BFI Flare Festival in London for more sold-out screenings. Speaking with us, we found out from Olly about his time as Billy Savage in Waterloo Road, understudying all characters in Lord of the Flies and his upcoming work.

You have recently been seen as Billy Savage in Series 14 of Waterloo Road on BBC, how would you describe the character?

Billy’s a sensitive soul, he knows right from wrong but has never had to deal with any real conflict in his life until he arrives at Waterloo Road which makes for an emotional reaction. Slightly damaged from losing his mum and having an emotionally distant father who always thinks he’s right, Billy’s being dragged through life for much of the series. If we had a chance to get to know him he’d be well-liked, empathetic and friendly, even funny in some cases but unfortunately things don’t get to go that far.

Had you seen Waterloo Road before auditioning and what was it like finding out you’d booked the role?

Actually, no! I’d never watched an episode but I had heard of it and knew what a staple of a show it was. Finding out I’d booked it was a real rush, I was well chuffed but I had no idea the depths that the story would go to.

How was it reading Billy’s storyline for the first time, and seeing the viewers’ response when the series aired last year?

Once I’d booked it and they told me the full extent of the storyline I definitely had to sit with my thoughts for a second and really consider how I was going to approach it knowing full well it would be a lot of work. But that being said – I was very excited to get started and so happy I had such a meaty story to get my hands on. Seeing the viewers’ response online has been so humbling and gratifying, all the twists and turns definitely had the intended effect.

What was Billy like to play and how was it developing the character across the series?

Knackering! Honestly, I’ve never been so tired embodying a character before. Developing Billy required me to reach deeper and deeper as the series progressed due to each episode gradually building to the emotional climaxes in both episodes 5 and 8. But it also taught me a lot about myself and I was able to develop personally alongside Billy throughout.

Is there anything you enjoyed most about working on set of Waterloo Road and filming alongside Jason Manford as your on-screen father Steve Savage, Zak Sutcliffe as Schumacher ‘Schuey’ Weever, Nathan Wood as Boz and with the rest of the cast?

Filming with all of them was a blast! Zak is now one of my best friends and I’m also super close with Nathan. Jason and I keep in touch, though with him gallivanting across the country on his comedy tour (and visiting various padel courts) we haven’t had a chance to catch up in person since wrapping together. The one thing I loved about all of them though, is no matter how heavy the day on set may have been with the bullying from Schuey and Boz to the grief after the canal incident, we all always found a way to lighten the mood and have a laugh! They definitely kept me going and I can’t thank them enough for that.

What would you say were the most challenging, and most rewarding, aspects of playing Billy and filming your storyline?

I think the most challenging part of playing Billy was essentially having a panic attack every day, even though it’s acting and the circumstances might be pretend (obviously I didn’t actually kill anyone or try to cover it up), the human body doesn’t know the difference and so I was exhausted at the end of each day after hyperventilating and crying my way through scenes. The payoff definitely comes afterwards though with directors giving me some kudos once they were happy and also seeing the audience reactions is a big reward showing that the work has paid off. On that note as well, I got to work with some amazing people within the crew and that was a huge reward.

We understand you are part of the upcoming short film Don’t Look as Thomas, which is directed by your Waterloo Road co-star Danny Murphy, what can you tell us about this?

I can’t say much about it yet! It was a lot of fun to film – it’s been created on a tiny budget and with an almost entirely deaf creative team! I got the opportunity to see the final edit of the film the other week and I was so proud of what we’ve all put together, it really is quite good and Danny, along with the DOP and producer Sam Ash, have smashed it out the park. Very excited for it to come to festivals this summer and for it to be out in the world.

For your first regular role, you played Joseph Holmes in Hollyoaks, what are some of your favourite memories from your time in the show?

I loved filming with Anya (Lawrence), especially towards the end we really hit our groove and had a laugh on set.

What was it like getting into character as Joseph and being part of a long-running soap?

Joseph was quite hard to get to grips with to begin with, very different from me and doing things I’d never even think of so definitely a tough cookie to crack. By the end though I think I’d settled into the soap a bit more and felt like I could experiment with my choices to find a happy middle ground with him. Hollyoaks as a whole was quite daunting for me with it being such a big machine and a way of working that I wasn’t used to. The pace is crazy and it can be easy to lose where you are in terms of story and character but it taught me the foundations of a lot of what I use today on set and means that I can be the most adaptable version of myself.

How was it having guest roles in Series 4 of All Creatures Great and Small as Private Briggs and Series 5 of The Last Kingdom as Osbert?

Both All Creatures and The Last Kingdom were such an amazing experience and I got to work with some legends – Sam West, Patricia Hodge and the late Cleo Sylvestre were all so lovely and welcoming and I immediately felt like I belonged! The Last Kingdom’s scale blew me away and gave an idea of what a massive production really feels like.

How did you find the experience recording as Jim Forrest in Almonds and Raisins for BBC Radio 4 last year?

Recording Jim was such a good time, I really would love to do more in audio and radio drama and working with Aaron Gelkoff, who played David, was such a laugh in the studio!

In 2023, you understudied all characters in Lord of the Flies at Leeds Playhouse and on tour, what was this like to do?

Another exhausting one, for some reason I’d decided to run a marathon at the same time as the show so I was in training whilst juggling however many characters there were. I had separate scripts for each of them and would pick a character each day to focus on. When the call actually came, down in Kingston when we were touring, that I’d be going on – pure adrenaline ran through me! Not to mention I had run said marathon only a day earlier so I could barely feel my legs, which were in agony for such a physical show! It was a unique challenge and I think I learnt to trust myself as an actor with my lines and knowing the physicality of each character. I don’t think I’m rushing to do a marathon and play side by side again though…

Where does your love of acting come from and how did you get into it?

I’ve always been a bit of a performer going through various phases in my childhood: a singer, magician, ventriloquist, even animator at one point! So I think, one summer when I was bored and Mum suggested I try out for a local theatre group, I began a new phase that hasn’t ended yet and fell in love with it!

Do you have any favourite films, TV and theatre shows to watch, and how do you like to spend your free time?

I wish I could say I’m really into film and TV and I watch super highbrow shows but to be honest I’ve just been binge-watching Formula 1: Drive to Survive and looking at dog videos my mum sends me. Keep ‘em coming, Sarah!

What are you hoping 2025 brings for your career and do you have any upcoming acting projects that you can tell us about?

I’m appearing in my first feature film, Departures by Lloyd Eyre-Morgan and Neil Ely, whom I have known since I first started acting professionally and I have worked with on and off since I began! It’s premiering at Manchester Film Festival to a sold-out audience and then at the BFI Flare Festival in London to more sold-out screenings – I’m so excited to see where it goes and what people think of it!

For the rest of 2025, I would love to get involved in some more theatre and explore some more challenging roles on screen. That’s the beauty of this industry though – I have no idea what I’ll be doing in a month’s time… I could be anywhere in the world shooting a series or film or I could be on tour delivering a brand new play or classical Shakespeare! I really do feel lucky that I get to call this my job and I can’t wait for what’s in store for the future.

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