The Bill star Aml cast in George Lucas film

Aml Ameen, who played Pc Lewis Hardy in The Bill, has been cast in a new film by Star Wars creator George Lucas. The 24-year-old British actor, who appeared in the ITV1 police drama for 18 months - stars in Hollywood action movie Red Tails. Aml, who has just returned from filming in Prague, told the Daily Mirror: "To all my fellow dreamers let this show you that it can be done - this started with a dream and a belief that I can do it." The film tells the story of the first African American pilots to fly in combat in the Second World War. As a child, Aml appeared in West End shows such as Oliver! and Jolson. At the age of 11 he performed on stage with Michael Jackson when he sang Heal The World at the 1996 Brit Awards. He went on to appear in Holby City and British movie Kidulthood before joining The Bill.

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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.