Hackney star is playing Mr Nice Guy at last

Hackney actor Adam Deacon is leaving behind a string of roles as low-life characters into guns and drugs to play a football star with a fast car, expensive flat and glamorous girlfriend.

The Adulthood star’s new film, Payback Season, is in cinemas from Friday. His character, Jerome, falls for Lisa, a journalist played by Nichola Burley, star of Streetdance 3D, and there’s a cameo role for 1966 World Cup footballer Geoff Hurst.

“It’s nice to play a normal guy... when you’re not saying how you’re going to kill someone,” said Deacon, 29, who scooped the Orange Rising Star Bafta award last month. “I’m going out of the way to change people’s perceptions.”