Waterloo Road star Osian Morgan reveals dramatic aftermath after shocking character death in fire

Myles certainly left his mark on Waterloo Road (Picture: Wall To Wall/Rope Ladder Fiction/Helen Williams/BBC)

The following interview contains spoilers for the Waterloo Road series 12 finale.

Myles Massey has taken Waterloo Road by storm this series, stirring things up among students and teachers, and being a generally nasty person.

His character began the term with the intentions of eventually returning to a football academy after recovering from injury.

It became clear from the outset that he was not there to make friends, as he set about leaving his mark on Waterloo Road.

Metro.co.uk sat down with actor Osian Morgan – who is thankfully much friendlier than his on-screen alter-ego! – ahead of the dramatic final episode of series 12 to discuss his time on the show, how he made the transition from footballer to actor, and the cast members he got along with best.

The actor, who’s previous roles include Aaron Monk in Welsh soap Pobol y Cwm and Gavroche in Les Miserable’s at the Wales Millennium Centre, revealed how he and Myles are alike, as well as teasing what the future may hold for the unruly character.

What was it like coming in to Waterloo Road as such a well-established show?

It was a tricky one when I got the nod that I’d got the job because funnily enough I was on my way to drama school, so I think I was two weeks away from going to the Royal Welsh College.

They called me to say I’d got the job so I had to make a decision between the two. It did take a lot of thinking, actually. I really wanted that university experience – all my mates are there and they’re having the time of their lives.

So it was a bit of a dilemma but I think I made the right choice. I just thought if I do good work it’ll hopefully spur me on for the rest of my career. When I got the call I was really excited. My mum was even more excited, I think.

Did you find it easy to fit in with the cast members who were in the previous series? Who do you get along with most on set?

Everyone was lovely. I think up north they have this persona that everyone’s just lovely. Everyone’s so friendly, so bubbly. Being Welsh, from Cardiff, I feel we represent that as well so it was a lovely fit. Everyone was really lovely.

Who do I get along with the best? There was one scene I’ll never forget. It was Thapelo [Ray] who plays Dwayne, Cesco [Piacenti-Smith] who plays Dean and Liam [Scholes] who plays Noel, and we couldn’t stop laughing. It was the last scene of the day before we had a week off. In the scene you can see Cesco and Liam crack a little grin and it’s in the show. When I first watched it I was laughing my head off.

To be honest everyone’s really lovely but I bonded with those three, and Alicia [Forde] as well. She’s incredible.

Myles is not the nicest of characters. Is it fun to play someone who can be so nasty and unhinged?

It’s the best. So far in my career I’m just being typecast with absolute horrible, nasty, disgusting characters. When I played Aaron in Pobol y Cwm he had the most beautiful side, he was loved by everyone dearly and had some lovely heartwarming storylines and then he had this right wing, fascist, extreme storyline and everyone just hated him.

There’s so much going on with Myles, he has this arrogance and believes he’s superior to everyone. You’ve got to think of the depth and what’s going on behind the curtains, because there are things going on at home that we don’t know of, definitely. His personal life they don’t show and as a viewer you get that opportunity to make your own decision.

You have so much freedom. I can read a script for the first time, dissect the lines and think ‘No, I wouldn’t say that.’ Or in the stage directions it might say ‘Myles has a cup of tea’ and I’d think, ‘No, he’d be on his phone.’ I had all this freedom and all this pleasure and leisure to have fun with it and the directors really supported that, which is good.

Would you like to see the show explore more of Myles’s home life and explore why he is the way he is?

It’s always good to let the viewer make their own decisions. Some people feel sympathetic for him. I spoke to my mum, who watched it for the first time, and she felt really sympathetic for him. Maybe because her son was in the show.

Others think he got what he deserved, and he deserved to be locked up for the rest of his days. I quite like that element to it.

Osian found it easy to get into character as Myles (Picture: BBC)

I think it would have been nice maybe if they’d explored something because there’s no way you have a character that heightened and that extreme and that arrogant for no reason. There is a reason.

He mentioned that he has an older brother, there’s maybe something there. It may be a ploy to pull in Zayne. It would have been nice to explore it but there’s pros and cons. It’s nice to let the viewer make that decision as well.

In the last episode Myles sets fire to the school. What was that like to film?

When you mention that experience there’s one thing that comes to mind. I’ll never forget the sight of the massive gas on set. Myself and Adam Abbou had that fight scene and I actually connected with Adam and it shows how committed everyone was to the experience.

It was exciting. When we first read the script I’ll never forget the Waterloo Road group chat that we had. Everyone was just like ‘OMG, crazy’. That ep and that block was so intense. The turnaround was so quick. Every scene I was in was just constant tension.

In one scene I had to really separate myself from everyone and I never thought I’d have to do that, especially in Waterloo Road. The director really encouraged it and I found myself with my fists very much clenched in this scene. It’s the scene where he’s in the hall and he’s observing everyone and Danny’s there and he bumps into Dwayne on his way. That’s before he rants about everyone. That scene was really intense and was probably the hardest scene to film and I had no lines, which is really interesting.

The process of that episode was bizarre, it was really unique and I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to portray a character in that way, because it went with a bang, for sure. They outdid themselves.

When you auditioned did you know this would be the outcome for the character? Or did you find out when you opened your script?

It was the latter. I went for a meeting with the writers because I wanted to ask them what is the plan with Myles and they told me he was going to set fire to the school but I didn’t know the context. What really was the wow factor was when I read the big monologue when he starts belittling everyone. That was when I thought at this point he’s just consumed with darkness, he’s consumed with evil. His main ambition is to take down the school, take himself down with the school. He just wants to finish everything and put an end to everything.

When I read the script for the first time that was reciprocated in the group chat. And the episode that airs is incredible.

Dwayne and Myles had a big feud this series (Wall To Wall/Rope Ladder Fiction/Vishal Sharma/BBC)

What sort of reaction have you had from people who’ve watched that final episode?

I don’t think many people like him, but that’s part and parcel of the job. I’ve had a few messages. I’m quite a humble guy so I try to answer everything I can even if people say I hate you. I try to say it’s not me, it’s not real. The majority have been ‘how dare you’ and all these things but a lot of people have said congratulations on the episode, really enjoyed it. A lot of people have been saying it’s one of the better episodes in Waterloo Road history. That’s a real pleasure, that’s a joy. So most messages have been positive but one or two have been going at me personally which I don’t mind. I’m a man, I can take it.

Do you think there’s a possibility for him to be redeemed?

I’m a big believer in everyone has a second chance. In this case, maybe not. Maybe the best thing for him is to go to prison. I don’t think there is any getting out of that, to be honest.

In terms of me and the character and what I’d like to do with him as an actor I think if I ever were to go back I’d like to explore his personal life and his private life, and really delve into why Myles is Myles and why he does the things he does and says the things he says. There has to be a reason.

I had my own idea of why I made the character how he is. I’ve got my own vision of his private life. I actually based that on someone I knew when I was playing football. When I was playing football in Cardiff I remember seeing some crazy, crazy things.

Would Myles be redeemed? Potentially not. I quite liked the ending. I like that he goes out and I’ve had the time to prove myself as an actor. I quite enjoy that factor. I’ve had the privilege and the pleasure to do some incredible scenes. Scenes that are quite low in tone and scenes that are quite high intensity.

So no, I think the character needs to be behind bars!

What have been your highlights of filming this series?

It’s hard to find one major highlight. I think the character is amazing. I’ll never forget the first day when I had to dye my hair silver and it felt like my head was literally on fire. The first time I was in the costume and saw myself I felt really powerful.

Osian would like to explore more of Myles’ home life (Picture: BBC)

Really the beauty of Myles is he unrolls different layers to the other characters. In season 11 all the characters have a lovely cohesion and they get along and the chemistry is lovely between them. You see some issues, especially with Danny, but you get to know the characters and their good sides. Myles really manipulates them and you get to see their vulnerability. It’s an honour, really, to unleash that out of them and explore different sides of the characters. That was my role as an actor.

On and off set I can’t speak highly enough of every single person who was just a gem. There were no egos ever. I think egos are the biggest thing. As soon as someone thinks they’re bigger than the project you’ve got a problem.

In the makeup room we had massive speakers. We’d always play music and have a sing and have a dance.

Lunchtime was lovely, you’d sit with someone different every day and you’d have a different conversation. There was a real lovely level of respect between everyone. It doesn’t matter what role you’re in, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing, everyone was the same. No one was on a pedestal. It was an honour to be here, really. The whole thing was a bit of a dream.

Is it important to have that camaraderie and lightness off set in between takes that can be very intense?

That’s a really good question. For me, if you’re playing a character like the Joker, I would really consider going Method on a role like that. It’s something I believe in, I think Method works, actually. But in this role I didn’t feel like I needed to do it because I felt so personal to the character. In some ways the character lived a similar life to what I lived, so we had that real chemistry between us.

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In terms of the characters on the show Myles and myself might be the two most similar, really. Not the actions that he does but in terms of the journey of the character I think we are very similar in that way.

For me lightness is a big thing. I’m someone who really likes to talk to the crew about what they’re doing on the weekend etcetera. For me lightness is a plus. Apart from that one scene I mentioned, as soon as I heard the word ‘cut’ I was very much talking to the person to my right about skydiving in Dubai, just random things that we’d talk about.

That’s how it was, it was such a lovely place to work. The atmosphere on set, you felt it was easy enough to just switch, which was nice.

Did you always want to be an actor?

How I became an actor is honestly one of the most bizarre stories I’ve ever heard in my life, and I’m proud to tell it.

Football was the thing I did. I was absolutely football mad. I was playing four times a week and I was travelling the country. Coventry, Birmingham, Chelsea, all these places I played when I played for Cardiff. Football was really everything I did, then I got released when I was just turning 14. Mostly because I was just hitting puberty 20 minutes ago and everyone hit puberty when they were 12.

So how I became an actor was I always did the school shows. When I was in year 7 we did a school show of Les Miserables where I played Gavroche. I did enjoy it but I had this idea that I’m an athlete before everything else.

Osian previously starred in Welsh soap Pobol y Cwm (Picture: BBC)

Later my Welsh teacher said there were auditions for a national performance of Les Mis. She said I should try for it. I said absolutely not, I want to be popular, I’m an athlete. So the teacher signed the document without me knowing and said to my mum, ‘I really want him to do it.’ My mum persuaded me and we went to the audition. I found out a week later I’d got the part.

We did the five shows and after the first night and I remember running to my mum and saying ‘I can’t stop here, I want to carry this on.’ After that I got an agent, Pobol y Cwm and then Waterloo Road. So I’ve been really lucky. If it wasn’t for the selfless act of a teacher I wouldn’t be here, basically.

What’s next for you?

I’m working on a few things. I’m in Milan this month, which is pretty cool, then I also worked on an ITV series with Jayde Adams called Ruby Speaking. That was cool. Life as an actor, I think it’s really humbling for me at this point because I’m incredibly lucky.

After Waterloo Road it did get a bit quiet. I got close to a few roles but I didn’t get much success in getting the roles. It’s quite humbling now, I’m at the stage where I’m living the life as a working actor.

At times it can be a struggle, for sure. I didn’t have any resources to really prepare me for it. I’m just working hard, staying humble. My family and my friends are helping me and it’s on to the next thing, hopefully.

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Osian Morgan chats all things Waterloo Road to Metro.co.uk.