Aimee Lou Wood reveals Dad's badly timed Instagram update before Sex Education star went on stage

Dave Benett
Dave Benett

Sex Education star Aimee Lou Wood revealed how her West End debut was almost derailed by a supportive text message from her father.

The 24-year-old, who made her name in the hit Netlix show and plays Sonya in the Chekhov classic Uncle Vanya, admitted she tried not to think about her “terrifying” rise to fame.

She said: “My Dad texted me just before I was about to go on stage and said, ‘You’ve got one million followers on Instagram’. I was like, ‘Dad, it’s not the right time to remind me that I’m quite observed.’ So I try not to think it about and just take it day to day and enjoy the experience.”

Wood’s Sex Education co-stars Gillian Anderson, Alistair Petrie and Connor Swindells, who is also her boyfriend, were in the audience last night.

She said she hoped Netflix would commission a third series, but that she wanted to balance her screen career with regular theatre work.

She said: “I know a lot of screen actors who think they left it too long to go back on stage and now they have really bad stage fright.”

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