New ITVX teen drama Tell Me Everything features a young cast telling a contemporary story of teens growing up in Welwyn Garden City.
The six central characters in Tell Me Everything are Jonny Murphy (Eden H. Davies), Neve (Lauryn Ajufo), Louis (Spike Fearn), Regan (Tessa Lucille), Mei (Callina Liang), and Zia (Carla Woodcock).
Here's more about the main characters from the provocative ITVX drama and the actors playing the roles in the series created by Mark O'Sullivan.
Jonny Murphy - played by Eden H. Davies
Jonny Murphy is the life and soul of the party - confident, daring, and funny. He lives with his family above a pub in Welwyn Garden City, an idealised mix of town and country that looks perfect on the outside.
Jonny can relate to that because beneath his surface, he’s got secrets of his own. Jonny struggles with his mental health and doesn’t feel like he can even confide the truth to his best friends, Neve and Louis.
Playing Jonny in his first TV role is Eden H. Davies, who celebrated his 18th birthday on set during filming of the series.
"I was at the National Youth Theatre from the age of 14, which is actually how I heard about this role," explained Eden.
"I had just started looking properly for jobs when this perfect opportunity came along. It was fate and because I’ve been training for a while, I felt I was ready to take this."
He added: "Jonny’s story reminded me a lot of me in certain ways. As an actor you are always desperately trying to find bits of yourself in a character. I really clicked with him instantly.
"It’s like a fusion of me and Mark O’Sullivan. Jonny has this laddish-ness on the surface and then a vulnerability right under that. It’s great that we see both sides.
"In real life you sometimes only see one dimension of certain people, especially young men who learn to mask their feelings very well."
Playing Jonny's mum, Ann, in the series is Clare Calbraith, who viewers will recognise from Heartbeat, 'Shep' from ITV crime series Vera, Unforgotten with Sanjeev Bhaskar and Nicola Walker, and as housemaid Jane Moorsum in Downton Abbey.
Neve - played by Lauryn Ajufo
Neve, Jonny and Louis have been partners in crime since they were small, and she has always had their backs. In return, they’ve always treated her like one of the boys, and she loves them for that.
As a result, Neve’s never really felt the need for girl friends but starting out at sixth form college, she bonds with Regan and starts to see the value in female friendship.
A naturally gifted student, despite her high academic achievements, Neve (or ‘Nifemi’ to her Anglo-Nigerian family) has lived in the shadow of her prodigious older sister, Timmi, the golden child, and they don’t get on.
Lauryn was attracted to the part of Neve after reading the script.
"She’s rebellious. That intrigued me the most. She’s a black teenage girl from an African household who has a slight ‘I really don’t care’ attitude.
"She’s a party animal and it’s very rare you get all that onscreen or that you even hear about that in person unless you are really good friends with them, especially being Nigerian from an African household. She’s a lot of fun. I like her."
When viewers first meet Neve she is funny, she’s bright, she’s got the highest grades in WGC, but there are other pressures bubbling under.
"She has a load of pressures," said Lauryn. "It’s funny because despite her having good grades I’ve noticed that it’s not something that she says out loud.
"It’s not something that is an achievement for her. I think it comes from the sense that she just likes being known as the party girl who’s a bit of fun.
"School is neither here nor there for Neve despite her being really smart. When people cheer her on for her good grades she goes into her shell, like she’s embarrassed.
"I think with the expectations at home because her sister is such a huge role model who has moved to London and is successful it’s like Neve has all those pressures to live up to."
Louis - played by Spike Fearn
From the outside, Louis looks like he has everything going for him.
He’s smart, good looking, comes from a wealthy family, doesn’t really have to worry about anything.
But appearances are deceptive. Louis has social anxiety. He may be 16 going on 17, but sometimes he wishes he was still 12.
Louis' alpha male father, Gareth, who doesn’t understand his son, is played by ex-EastEnders star Nigel Harman.
Mei - played by Callina Liang
When Mei arrives in Welwyn Garden City, she gives herself a makeover, emerging with a rebellious new identity, a virtual suit of armour.
When she first meets Jonny, Mei tells him she has also lost her father and can relate to the pain he’s feeling. Their connection pulls Jonny back from the brink of another depressive episode.
But Mei’s only telling him a half-truth. The dad she grew up with isn’t dead – he’s just not her biological father.
Explaining how Mei ends up in Welwyn Garden City, Callina said: "She was originally from there and then when her mother and her biological father were still together they were in Canada.
"She was in Canada for boarding school. But now that they have broken up and things haven’t gone well with the financial side she has had to go back to Welwyn Garden City."
Callina was born in Vancouver, Canada, but grew up in China, Beijing.
Zia - played by Carla Woodcock
Zia is that girl at college who everybody either wants to be best friends with or go out with. She’s blonde, beautiful, and a social-media star after a video of her dancing in her bedroom went viral.
On top of which, she also happens to be the nicest person in the world. Some people have all the luck.
Except, as a result of her looks and easy-going nature, people constantly project their impression of Zia on to her.
But like any teenager, Zia has her insecurities, she’s just taught herself to present a confident mask to the world.
Carla Woodcock is the most experienced actor of the TME gang, having played Marina in school drama Ackley Bridge.
"I think on the surface you could say that both characters are quite similar in that they are both popular girls," said Carla.
"But when you get to know them you see that they are very different people. They go about their popularity in very different ways.
"What intrigued me about Zia was she could be seen as the ‘popular girl’ and ‘cool girl’ but she doesn’t have that catty energy that is so often done in those types of roles, especially with teen dramas.
"Zia is very emotionally mature. She doesn’t lash out with her insecurities or try to put anyone down. She’s a girl’s girl, supporting people and uplifting people, which is really nice to play."
Regan - played by Tessa Lucille
Regan is best friends with Zia and appears to be fun and free-spirited when she’s out with her friends, but like all of them, there’s more to her life than first meets the eye.
Regan lives with her elderly, incapacitated grandmother and in the absence of any other family, has become her day-to-day carer.
Shouldering the weight of that responsibility has forced Regan to be more mature and less carefree than her peers.
While they worry about romances and parties and school grades, she’s stressing about whether her grandmother’s eaten or taken the right pills.
The flip side is that Regan’s become a bit of a control freak and struggles to truly let go.
To add to her worries, Regan was brave enough to be honest about her sexuality from a young age, but being gay in a small suburban town makes her options for romance limited.
Tessa said: "As soon as I read these scripts I was like, ‘This is great.’ I read it and it made me laugh out loud.
"I did quite instantly connect with the character. Regan is great. I love her. I can understand her point of view and the way she goes about her life."
Regan has got a girlfriend, Lizzie. Tessa said of her character and what she'd like to explore more in the future: "She’s obviously very comfortable in her sexuality.
"One of the themes that we spoke about way at the beginning when I was given the character brief was not that Welwyn Garden City is a homophobic county at all but it’s not got a thriving queer community.
"So I’d love to see her explore more of what it means to be a lesbian and a queer person and find that identity a little bit more."
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