From the West End to Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker, Liam Mower tells Laura Davis about life as a former child star

WHEN a softly-spoken boy from the North was named as the first stage Billy Elliot, comparisons to the fictional character were inevitable.

Just like the son of a County Durham pit worker who discovers a passion for ballet, Liam Mower came from an ordinary background with no showbiz connections.

The son of an engineer father and a shop worker mother, he was destined to follow his three brothers into the local comprehensive.

Instead, at the age of 11, he was spotted in a dance class by talent scouts and invited to audition for Elton John’s new musical.

A year of call-backs later, and in 2005 he left his family and Kingston-upon-Hull home and moved with the other children in the cast to a big house in London, run by a team of “house mothers”.

“I took it all in my stride,” he says of the lengthy audition process.

“I’d never done a serious audition before but I don’t think anyone realised how huge a show it was going to be.

“I think if I did such an intense series of auditions like that now I’d be a lot more nervous.”

Mower and two other Billy actors each performed in three or four shows per week (he starred on the opening night), attended school in the morning and spent afternoons in rehearsals. Yet despite this gruelling schedule, he feels he had a relatively normal childhood. He returned home every other weekend to spend time with his friends and family.

“My mum’s concern was that I was 100% happy all the time and that I was well looked after,” he says.

“No-one wants to say goodbye to their 12-year-old son and leave him at a strange house with new people but it was something we all got used to.”