A queer teen grappling with their gender identity is at the center of What It Feels Like for a Girl , the BBC drama telling a party- and drug-fueled trans coming-of-age story based on the memoir of journalist Paris Lees. The show’s breakout star is Ellis Howard , a rising talent from Liverpool.

For those who don’t recognize the accent: that is the same city that Adolescence and A Thousand Blows star Stephen Graham is from, and the city that BBC drama crime epic This City Is Ours , starring Sean Bean, is set in.

Writer and actor Howard has turned heads with his performance in What It Feels Like for a Girl , and now Howard is on the U.K. 2025 BAFTA Breakthrough list of rising talent, supported by Netflix, which was unveiled on Tuesday.

A queer teen grappling with t

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