Autistic actor from Alsager appears in 'revolutionary' BBC show

Caitlin Hamilton plays lead character Addie's older sister, Nina

Appearing in new CBBC drama A Kind of Spark was revolutionary, an autistic actor has said.

The story follows follows Addie, who is autistic, in her bid for a memorial to witches in her village.

Caitlin Hamilton, from Alsager in Cheshire, plays Addie's older sister Nina.

The drama, based on the award-winning book by neurodivergent author, Elle McNicoll, "shows the reality of what autism is," she said.

"Being autistic myself, it's been a really lovely project," she said.

A Kind of Spark follows Addie, played by Lola Blue, and her two sisters - Caitlin's character of Nina and Keedie, played by Georgia De Gidlow.

After learning about witches in school, Addie "feels a connection to them," Caitlin said.

A Kind of Spark follows the sisters' journey to get a memorial to witches in their village

"She thinks the witches weren't really witches, they were women who were wrongly accused of witchcraft and were most likely probably autistic."

Best-selling author McNicoll said autistic people are "commonly misrepresented" and she wanted her characters to "feel that their way of being is something to celebrate and find joy in, not something to disguise or suppress".

She said all of the autistic characters are played by autistic actors and "many of the wider cast and crew are neurodivergent".

The drama is available on BBC iPlayer and will be broadcast on CBBC from 17 April

For Caitlin, she said seeing autism represented on a CBBC programme was "revolutionary".

"We live with autism every day, it's something I've been born with, that I've had my whole life, and it doesn't stop me from doing anything," she said.

"But also these are the things sometimes we can struggle with and it just shows the reality of what it would look like but through the neurodiverse lens rather than the neurotypical lens which we normally see things through."

A Kind of Spark is available to stream on BBC iPlayer and will be broadcast on CBBC from 17 April.