02.02.2026
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Iconic bestselling novel The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole is coming to the BBC from a creative team led by One Day author David Nicholls. A nationwide casting search is underway for the lead, an awkward boy entering his teens.
CRAIG THOMAS (MALE, 15 YEARS – 17 YEARS)
**To play aged 14/15 but please note that we need someone who is post-GCSEs to play this role – i.e. must be 16 post-GCSE or over and not require a child licence**
Please do not submit any actors aged 19 or over.
Craig Thomas is a pupil at a comprehensive school in Leicestershire in the 1980s. He is the tallest in his year and is very cool and dapper. He is a mod – and all the girls at the local youth club fancy him. He is easy to get along with, and is pretty straightforward in his approach to life – he enjoys music and girls and Mars bars. He causes Adrian intense jealousy and frustration when he starts dating Pandora Braithwaite.
This is a good role across the series for a young working-class Midlands actor.
PANDORA BRAITHWAITE (FEMALE, 16 years – 18 years)
**To play aged 14/15 but please note that we need someone who is post-GCSEs to play this role – i.e. must be 16 post-GCSE or over and not require a child licence**
Pandora Braithwaite is the girl who Adrian is besotted by. New to the local comprehensive school in Leicestershire , she is politically active, clever, confidant and pretty and radiates middle-class assurance and prosperity. She owns a pony called Blossom and smokes cigarettes and sets herself up as editor of a new student newspaper. All the local Leicester boys are captivated. Her father is a high-earning accountant and her mother is a member of the SDP – they are Guardian readers living in the most expensive street in the area.
If anyone is interested, please could they email meadow@robertsterne.co.uk or laura@robertsterne.co.uk from a parent or guardian’s email address, including:
We will contact anyone we feel may be suitable and invite them to audition.
The series shoots in UK from Spring 2026.
For more information, please see:
Deadline Article
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