Neil Ashton: Brassic and It's A Sin star on growing up in Kendal

Neil Ashton arrives at the National Television Awards 2023 in London

Actor Neil Ashton grew up in Kendal where, as a former member of the Cumbria Youth Theatre, his love of performance began.

Back then, living above a Highgate newsagents owned and run by his parents, he was known as Neil Smith - his stage name is a nod to the Lancashire town were his mum was born.

After school he landed a job as a fashion editor for teen magazine Just Seventeen, before turning to professional acting.

These days, his roles in the groundbreaking Russell T Davies drama It's A Sin and hit Sky series Brassic have brought him to the attention of millions of TV viewers - yet the two roles could not be further apart.

The 53-year-old, who now lives in Manchester, is currently filming the sixth series of comedy drama Brassic, in his role as local villain Davey MacDonagh.

Neil has appeared as Davey MacDonagh in Sky's Brassic since series three

"Imagine a cross between Last of the Summer Wine and Shameless, if you could do such a thing," he tells BBC Radio Cumbria's Stephanie Finnon.

"It's about a fictional group of friends, who live in a fictional town called Hawley, and they just get up to some mad scrapes - it's very, very funny".

In Brassic, Neil stars alongside fellow cast members Bronagh Gallagher, Steve Evets, Bhavna Limbachia, Joanna Higson and Michelle Keegan

As baddie Davey, Neil first appeared in the show in series three. At the time, he was contracted to star in just one episode of the show.

"You hope that you have done a good job, and they really like what you have done - but for them to ask you back, and not to ask you back for another episode but for the whole of season 4 - it was just incredible," says Neil.

"He is completely bonkers, I love him to bits," he says, of his character. "He's very funny - just off-the-wall.

Much of his screen time revolves around the shenanigans of Davey and his brother Barry, played by Greg Wood.

"Imagine a sort of Krays family - obviously not as evil as them, or are they? I don't know, you'll have to watch it and find out," he laughs.

• The story of a Cumbrian actor - BBC Sounds

His debut in Brassic came the same year as his memorable turn as pub landlady Grizzle in Channel 4's critically-acclaimed drama series It's a Sin.

The show revolved around a group of friends coming of age in 1980s London during the HIV/Aids crisis.

Neil Ashton, as Grizzle, and Omari Douglas, as Roscoe, on set of Channel 4's It's A Sin

"It was an incredibly special show to be part of," says Neil, who had previously worked with the series creator Russell T Davies on 2015's Cucumber.

"I was so blessed to get it, because it's such an important part of our history - especially LGBT history."

Many of the leading actors in younger roles were not born in the 1980s, but Ashton was growing up in the period portrayed on screen, so he was able to share his experiences with his fellow cast members.

The Russell T Davies drama told the story of a group of friends growing up in London during the HIV/Aids crisis

"It was a devastating time," he recalls."I personally lost a friend to Aids.

"I was living in London in the early '90s when it [Aids] was still quite prevalent and, personally, it was a really difficult and strange time.

"I think it was told in such a brilliant way by Russell.

"He had been wanting to tell that story for a long time."

'Negativity'

Neil's family is still based in Cumbria, and although he now lives in Manchester, he believes he will end up back there one day.

"You can take the boy out of Cumbria, but not Cumbria out of the boy."

Neil, aged 14, in the play Our Day Out, performed with the Cumbria Youth Theatre in 1984

Neil (very far left) and members of the cast of Our Day Out

In July, Kendal hosted its first Pride celebrations.

Organisers had initially planned a small-scale event, but thanks to support from the town and local businesses, it turned into a three-day festival.

"I am so thrilled for them. How brilliant is that!" says Neil.

"It was a very different place in the '70s and '80s," he adds.

"I was being bullied for being gay at school, even before I knew myself - or even what it was."

Neil grew up in Kendal, living in a flat above the newsagents' Wolstenholmes, on Highgate

He remembers his dad finding homophobic graffiti daubed in big white letters outside their home in Highgate, which Neil was tasked to scrub off.

The bullying led him to grow up believing being gay must be "really bad": "I am being bullied for it, so I can't be gay because it must be really terrible," he remembers thinking.

"I didn't come out until I was 19 or 20. We didn't have the internet, there was nowhere you could go and find out anything about it - especially living in Cumbria, in the Lakes - I really did think I was 'the only gay in the village'".

Neil (far right), with Dylan Brown and Martyn Jowett in 1987 as part of the Cumbria Youth Theatre in The Dream (A Midsummer Night's Dream)' directed by Lawrence Boswell

He reflects on his own astonishment at the change in attitudes.

"I was saying 'Kendal's having its own Pride, who's going to go? There's no gay people in Kendal!"

"How amazing is that? That it has got so open now - a place where I had such negativity and a terrible time trying to be who I was, [and] now we are celebrating that.

"I love it, and I hope that happens everywhere."