BRADFORD theatre school Articulate has been involved with popular family drama The A Word since its first series in 2016.

The BBC1 show, about the family of a boy diagnosed with autism, is now on its third series, and two youngsters from Articulate have speaking roles.

The A Word stars Guiseley actor Max Vento as Joe Hughes, who copes with his autism by listening to indie pop songs, which he has encyclopedic knowledge of, through headphones. As the drama developed, Joe's parents, played by Morven Christie and Lee Ingleby, and his grandfather, (Christopher Eccleston), have been learning how to deal with Joe's condition and its impact on the family.

"We have always been extremely proud to be involved with this awesome series," says Articulate director Stacey Burrows. "From almost 100 support artists (including parents), and speaking roles for some kids in series one and two, it’s wonderful to see it back, with two more Articulate youngsters in speaking roles.

"Alfie Clark from our Bingley classes and Freya Beaumont from our Cleckheaton classes filmed this series in the Lake District and Manchester last year. They both auditioned in Manchester a month before filming began.

"Our students and families have fond memories of filming The A Word across the last four years - our office walls have a whole section dedicated to pictures of filming the series, including the day nearly 30 children almost got snowed in on location in the middle of the Lake District!"

Alfie has also been in BBC1 hit Gentleman Jack, Netflix drama The English Game, filmed largely in Saltaire last year, Amazon series The Feed and forthcoming film The Duke, starring Dame Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent, filmed in Bradford.

Freya was also in Gentleman Jack. "Freya found Articulate by accident as her dad was a caretaker at the building we hired and she ended up joining in for a session," says Stacey. "She’s never looked back."

Alfie, nine, says: “I loved filming on The A Word. The Lake District is beautiful, apart from when the sideways rain started and never stopped! The character I played was called Alfie, so that was easy to recognise when someone was talking to me. I met some famous people while I was there such as Lee Ingleby, who I played football with and shared jokes with in my scene. I also filmed with Christopher Eccleston who was really funny. When we were singing around a campfire he kept pulling faces to make me laugh. My favourite part was meeting Max Vento who plays Joe. He was really lovely and a brilliant actor. We’ve kept in touch and I can’t wait until lockdown is over so we can meet up again."

Eight-year-old Freya said: “It was an amazing experience. Being a Doctor Who fan, it was fantastic acting with Christopher Eccleston. I had a lot of my scenes with Julie Julie Hesmondhalgh. She was so kind and gave me tips about how to act in scenes. I got to play a few comical roles which made me laugh. It was the best experience I've ever had."