A STUDENT from Knutsford Academy has admitted he will be taking on his most challenging role when he plays the former lover of the codebreaker Alan Turing.

Sixty-five years ago this summer, Turing was found guilty along with Arnold Murray in Knutsford of gross indecency for homosexual acts, which were considered a crime at that time.

Now 17 year old Sam Rees, will play the part of Murray, for Knutsford Promenades, as part of Unsung Stories, in the very courtroom where the pair were convicted.

Sam said: "I think at the time Murray worked in Manchester but when I did my research on him I couldn't find very much.

"I won the part after doing a monologue at an audition and the whole play is very realistic in the sense of it being staged in the actual court.

"The producers were at the time looking for a 19-year-old Murray, but for me any part in this play would have been brilliant.

"This trial is such a crucial part part of the town's local history and it's definitely something that I wanted to do."

Meanwhile, Sam, has also been making big noises elsewhere after winning a role in the 2017 film The Silent Child where he plays Seb, the older brother of a profoundly deaf sister Maisie and the family's struggle to understand how to communicate with her.

Sam received the news only last week that the Chris Overton film, which was crowd funded, had won Best Live Action Short in the United States, at the Rhode Island International Film Festival.

"It's great news that we have won this award for what is a very naturalistic film which was filmed over five days. I even went to see it when it premiered in London. This film could go all the way to the Brits and to the Academy Awards."

Sam who starts his second year at the academy is hoping that when he leaves next year it will be to take up drama at either the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London or at Manchester Metropolitan University.