The last time we saw Adam Groff, at the climax of the third season of the Netflix hit comedy Sex Education, he was taking part in a toy-dog agility competition with a ball of white fluff called Madam. So there is a pleasing symmetry that when I meet the actor who plays Adam, 26-year-old Connor Swindells, he’s being pulled behind a black-and-white mutt named Moose, whom he is also attempting to train. “I’ve had him about a week,” says Swindells. “He’s a collie from a high-kill [animal] shelter in Bosnia. We have absolutely no idea what kind of a life he lived before northwest London, but he seems pretty chilled.”
The plan had been to sit in a café with Swindells and talk about his fast-escalating career, including roles in the new TV drama from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight and the live-action Barbie movie. But Moose has other – frankly, better – ideas, and we are heading down the road behind him, stopping for the occasional sniff, towards their local park. Why is he called Moose? “That was just the name they gave him at the shelter,” replies Swindells, who is wearing a ribbed T-shirt, jeans and Moscot shades that the autumnal sunshine just about justifies. “And I thought, it’s funny, so let’s keep it.”
