Born in the Isle of Man, actor Joe Locke made his screen debut in 2022 playing Charlie Spring in hit Netflix series Heartstopper, adapted from Alice Oseman’s graphic novels. He received an Emmy nomination for his performance and next year will star in the series’ feature-length finale, Heartstopper Forever. On stage his credits include The Trials at the Donmar Warehouse and a Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd. He currently stars in Clarkston, a play by Samuel D Hunter about work, poverty and friendship in rural America, at Trafalgar Theatre in London’s West End until 22 November.

I just finished reading this – it's beautifully written, almost lyrical. It looks at the class system and the baggage that comes when one moves into a different class. It’s about a woman who gets into Oxbridge and ends up marrying a man who comes from old money, and the differences between them. I come from a very working class background, and because of my job I’ve somehow found myself in rooms I would never have been allowed into before, or part of society that I wouldn't have felt comfortable in. Obviously her story is really different, but I really resonated with the idea of suddenly being in spaces that you previously thought you weren't allowed in.

Olivia Dean is such an amazing artist, and I’ve been listening to this album a lot. She’s a jazzy pop singer-songwriter who makes really clever music, with beautiful orchestration and songwriting. I really enjoyed the track Loud – the melodies and harmonies are not what you expect – and another track, I’ve Seen It, which is about the different forms of love. I had a few hours to kill in New York the other day, so I walked around Central Park listening to this album, with the crunchy leaves and autumn vibes, and I felt very much like the main character.

This is my favourite restaurant – I never had such fresh, gorgeous food in my life. The guy who runs it, Chris D'Sylva, also owns the Notting Hill Fish Shop, so all the fish is really fresh, and the menu changes all the time with whatever’s in season. I've not liked fish my whole life, but in the last few years I've come to love it, and the John Dory they do is just delicious. It’s quite a small restaurant, probably around 20 tables, and it feels scene-y but in a nice way, not in an oppressive way. There are always cool people sitting outside with glasses of wine.

I like listening to podcasts or audiobooks on the way to work, or in the morning when I'm getting up. I find this one a good way to stay informed about the world. The presenters, Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall, are very good at giving a quite unbiased look at the news and calling out the media when it doesn't necessarily portray things in the best ways. Emily Maitlis did a great interview with Nicola Sturgeon about her new autobiography: the questions were not what you’d expect, but it was really insightful into who Nicola Sturgeon is as a person.

I've been loving Slow Horses. In the last six months I binge watched all four seasons – the fifth season has just come out. Gary Oldman is hilarious as a dirty, mean old MI5 agent, and he is really gross and funny, in the best way. Jack Lowden is also amazing in it. I love a spy story, and I love a dysfunctional story, so I think it's really engaging. With a lot of shows, when they run for more than three or four seasons, they can become quite monotonous, scraping the barrel with storylines, but I find that every season actually gets more interesting, and I'm even more sucked into it.