Carl Au: ‘Barry could be headed for prison’

Chatting to What’s on TV on the set of Waterloo Road earlier this year actor Carl Au revealed there’s more to his character, teenage tearaway Barry Barry (“So good they named me twice” he once joked on the show) than meets the untrained eye…

‘‘I did loads of research on kids with behavioural issues for the role of Barry, as I didn’t want to play a typical bad boy bully," Carl explained.

"I discovered a large percentage of high school dropouts are fatherless. And that’s Barry’s situation – he’s trying to fill the shoes of his father, who is in jail.”

In the series finale (Thursday 07 November, 8pm, BBC1) Barry is confident he’s pulled off the scam of his life, having stolen almost £10, 000 from his sister Kacey’s boxing-training fund.

Carl, however, believes Barry (pictured here with furious mum Carol, played by Zoe Lucker) could be headed for the slammer!

“Barry’s 19 years old, having being held back a year at the school, and he’s not considered the consequences. He’s an adult now and could be following in this father’s footsteps and going to prison," he explained.

"At some point he’s got to leave Waterloo Road – he can’t be in school forever! I’d like him to go out with a bit of a bang. It would do the character justice.”

More from What's on TV's revealing interview with Carl here.