“I’m more than just my codpiece”: Henry Ashton talks Game of Thrones, Sleepwalking, and True Crime in Pub Corner

Henry Ashton may not be a name you know but he’ll be a face you recognise. Starring in hits like My Lady Jane, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, and most recently, taking a leading role in Game of Thrones spin off A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, these are early but successful days for the British actor.

From true crime to drama school icks there’s a lot you probably don’t know.

He was definitely a nerd as a kid – but he had a very niche specialist subject

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms | Official Final Trailer | HBO Max - YouTube

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Sure, he’s a great – and successful actor, but if he had to swap hats and go behind the camera, we’d back him to make a cracking series. Specifically, carrying on the genre he’s been starring in frequently and our favourite category: the coveted books to screen series. For Henry, there’s one particular novel at the top of his list.

“I’d probably pick The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett. I read it maybe 20 times as a kid, I loved it. They did do a series of it about 10 years ago, but it didn’t really take off and I’d love it to have a revival.”

He’d be down for a My Lady Jane Revival

One of the biggest tragedies of TV in recent years has to be the fallen soldiers that was My Lady Jane. The Prime Video original series hit our screens in 2024 but was cancelled after just one season. Boasting an iconic cast including Rob Brydon, Anna Chancellor, and Dominic Cooper, the series walked so other punchy, spunky modern period dramas (ahem, Bridgerton) could run. With Emily Bader and Edward Bluemel in leading roles, it’s a series that shocked fans and kindled passionate reddit-threads when it ended after just one season. It was a historical comedy which retold the infamous story of Lady Jane Grey’s eight day reign from a, erm, slightly different perspective. And by perspective, we mean a different world. Blending fantasy with history, drama, royalty, and romance, it was a rambunctious brawl through a Tudor history you definitely didn’t learn in school.

“We were unlucky, I think,” Henry reflected, thinking back on his role as Stan Dudley (son of Rob Brydon and brother of Edward Bluemel).

“It came out at slightly the wrong time, and they pulled the plug quite quickly. Anything I post or do, I still get people posting “save my Lady Jane”. It might get revived one day, who knows. It was my first big sort of job, and I had the best time. I’d definitely do a second series if we ever get the chance.”

A lot of his drama school was during Covid – and yes, it was as hard as it sounds…

If you think your work from home / school (or home-schooling) / university experience was difficult thanks to Covid, drama school is another level. Drama school is sort of famous for some downright weird activities – animal impersonations, games which don’t feel out of place in a tween drama-fantasty series, and classes with adjectives like “textures” and “shapes”. Think of Eddie Redmayne’s animal dance in Fantastic Beasts and you’ll get an idea of what sort of chaotic training takes place alongside the Shakespearean verse. Now imagine trying to do that on Zoom.

“I was in drama school during Covid,” Henry revealed. “Imagine doing voice class and movement class in silence on zoom.” Did he get the ick? Yes. “It was a weird time,” he laughed. “But I absolutely loved it, and love Scotland so much.”

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is his favourite set so far

From the outside, film sets seem inordinately glamorous. From the inside, they’re chaotic, busy, a melting pot of incredible costumes and a hefty amount of serious tech. They’re where famous faces hang out in amongst crazy sets, and in Henry’s case, play a lot of games.

“The latest one is probably the most impressive set,” Henry confirmed, alluding to the Game of Thrones spin off A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

“The jousting arena, the campsites, it’s amazing for an actor because you don’t need much imagination, they built everything.”

“There was a lot of waiting around – we had a tent and we’d just play games. Peter Claffey had this game where you had to figure out what he was doing. It sounds so boring, it’s so hard to explain… It was infuriating though because I was really bad at it! There was some Uno too,” he added at our disappointment.

Like any cool actor, he has some unique quirks

Henry’s nickname in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is possibly the greatest nickname to exist on screen (and off screen for that matter) in history. Playing Daergan, “The Drunkard”, we had to hope that the off-screen Henry had one that was just as iconic.

“Henry the sleepwalker or sleeptalker probably,” he laughed. “ It stays pretty local,” he added. “It happens when I'm stressed and have a lot on my mind. I feel like I should be more productive – I don’t sleep tidy or sleep eat. In mine there is always a disaster happening, so I’m trying to stop it.” So really, we corrected him, he’s a sleep hero, not a sleep walker.

“The worst place I sleepwalked was when I was staying with my friend at his family house. I slept walked into his parents bedroom – thank god I was wearing underwear. They were just in bed drinking coffee and were like “Good Morning Henry.” Then later at breakfast they were like: “do you remember coming into our room?” God, that was embarrassing…”

Being in the Game of Thrones universe doesn’t stop him from being a fan

Game of Thrones has launched heartthrobs and acting royalty alike, with the franchise being to Hollywood being what Eton is to generating politicians.

If Henry had to cherry pick a character from one of the other universes who would make a cameo – even just a flashback, there are a couple he has in mind.

“I love hound, and Rory McCan who plays him. I absolutely love him, so I’d be very pleased if he turned up. I’m currently working on a project with Leda Henry so I’d happily have her in the series.”

A bad job was the catalyst for getting into acting

Bob Mortimer was a binman, Stormzy worked in Screwfix, I did a stint in an Amy Winehouse tribute act, one of Henry's jobs pre drama school was in a hotel. No one is immune to a day on the job so bad it prompts all kind of eat-pray-love style fantasies of quitting. For Henry, it wasn't too dissimilar, with a bad work day being responsible for his application to drama school.

“I was working in a hotel just off Oxford Street – it was fancy pants. I was a duty manager, it was a really interesting job. I have a lot of respect for people doing that job, you really have to love it. I have to thank it a little because it got me into acting; I had such a bad day that I went and had some pints with my best mate and decided to go to drama school instead.”

And, he had a pretty memorable first day on the job

“I remember in my first week I had a guest come down, and ask if I could book a sex party for him and his wife – and I just had to google “sex party" to try and find one for him. I Googled sex party London and clicked on the first one. I looked at the reviews – it had good reviews.”

He’s a true crime junkie

No one is immune to a good chunk of crime, whether it's being addicted to a good police procedural, or being hooked by true crime podcasts, it's nice to know Average Joes like us can have things in common with glitzy stars.

“I do like true crime," Henry confessed.

"I’m a huge podcaster. My most long lasting one is Case File but I just discovered a new one called Radio Rental which is a mix between true crime and ghost stories. I go to sleep listening to ghost stories – it relaxes me. There’s one called Other World and that is my bedtime stories.”

And we were wondering why he has such bad dreams…

Even though he’s a true crime lover, he’s not about to try it IRL

“I don’t think I could get away with it," Henry laughed, shaking his head. "It’s so hard to get away with stuff. I think I’d be such a terrible criminal in every sense – I’m not good at thinking on my feet, I’m a terrible liar, I go pink when someone confronts me. It’s different from acting!" he clarified. "If someone confronts me about something I’d go bright red.”

We assumed this meant that he would not be very successful on BBC’s beloved The Traitors.

“I’d have to be a faithful,” he agreed. “I’d love to go on the Traitors,” he added. So any BBC execs out there reading this, cast him in the next celeb series, please.

When it comes to regrets, there’s one costume-based one still on his mind

If you don't have regrets, you're not human, at least according to a (probably deadFrench) philosopher or greetings card somewhere. You never know when a good thing might abruptly end such was the cast with My Lady Jane, and there's one part of the cancellation which is somewhat of a fashionable thorn for Henry.

“I wish I’d kept a codpiece," he shared. "We genuinely thought we’d be doing another season so I was going to steal some codpieces at the end."

It’s funny, you get used to them quite quickly – and the cast and crew do too," he added. "You could always tell who was new to the cast or crew cause you’d walk past and they’d just gape. You be like “oh yup, that’s just my codpiece.”"

It’s funny to think of something deliberately drawing the kind of objectifying attention to a usually guarded area that people generally try to avoid. Could codpieces be the new couture? Perhaps. Did he ever whip out a “my eyes are up here” to passersby, we wondered.

“No, I didn’t,” he laughed. “But I definitely thought: I’m more than just my codpiece, once. That’s my new instagram bio.”

Episodes 1-6 of Henry's latest series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms are currently available to view on NOW TV.

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