A Manx actor has been honoured at the British GQ Men of the Year Awards.

Joe Locke attended the ceremony in London last week with his Heartstopper co-star Kit Connor.

The former Ballakermeen High School student posed with his gold award at The Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park hotel after being announced as a cover star earlier this month.

In his interview with British GQ, Joe described the Isle of Man as ‘safe and sheltered’, saying: ‘I don’t think anyone who reads about where I’m from could fully understand it.’

He explained that the island has, what he called, a ‘really strangely high calibre’ of amateur theatre and, as one of the few boys interested in it, he was almost guaranteed the good roles’.

‘Acting was always my passion,’ he told GQ. ‘But I think I’d resigned myself to the fact it wasn’t going to happen.’

Joe said that older friends had left to pursue careers in drama in London and ‘they’d not be lucky in the right ways, or not find the right things and then not be able to sustain living’ there.

He added: ‘The way that people trying to break into the industry are treated by society is so hard.’

It was recently announced that Joe has signed with the Creative Artists Agency for representation in the USA.

This followed Joe being cast as the male lead opposite Kathryn Hahn in the upcoming Disney+ and Marvel WandaVision spin off series Agatha: Coven of Chaos.

According to Deadline, his character and the plot details are being kept secret, but sources describe the character as a gay teen with a dark sense of humour.

Kathryn is reprising her role as WandaVision villain Agatha in the series. Emma Caulfield Ford is also set to reprise the role of Dottie from WandaVision.