Americans are 'obsessed' with three cheeky brothers from Salford after they appeared in comedy drama Ted Lasso. The Apple TV+ series stars Jason Sudeikis as an American sports coach who attempts to manage London-based football team AFC Richmond.
Brothers Teddy Wallwork, 13, Oscar Wallwork, 11, and Bertie Wallwork, 8, were in the show's penultimate episode, which saw one footballer visit his family on a Manchester council estate. Richmond striker Jamie Tartt, portrayed by Phil Dunster, pops in to his childhood home ahead of a Richmond game against Manchester City.
On the way, he encounters three young lads playing football. As Manchester City fans, they're less than impressed with Jamie, who left the team for Richmond.
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They're not particularly nice to him either, using 'fruity language' against him in the comical scene. The boys, whose characters were named Barry, Robin and Maurice after the Bee Gees, went down a storm with American viewers.
After the episode aired, their mum Claire Wallwork shared her pride in the Ted Lasso Believe Facebook group, which has more than 85,000 members. The response she got 'took her breath away.'
One said of the boys: "OMG they were the BEST!!! They made that scene!!!" while another added: "I LOVED THEM!! I literally rewound and watched like 3 times! Adorable!" One said: "Your boys were amazing!! Loved that scene so much!! I couldn’t stop laughing. Congratulations!" while another gushed: "I have to say one of my favorite parts of the whole episode is when Roy turns to them in approval and they act all excited about it! Good job boys".
And these were just a few of the hundreds of comments.
Claire told the Manchester Evening News: "I was really proud - I'm proud of everything they do, they’re brilliant. We stayed up until two o’clock in the morning because [Ted Lasso] airs at America at nine o’clock at night.
"They were so lucky to get that part, they went up against thousands of children. And the comments on Facebook just take your breath away."
She added that it was like 'family' on set, explaining: "Jason Sudeiis, Phil Dunster, Brett Goldstein and Juno Temple were amazing with the kids".
In a twist of fate, Teddy was actually on holiday in America when he was told about the casting call. He was visiting New York with his nanna - a trip Teddy had treated her to out of his own acting wages.
Teddy ended up filming his self-tape audition at his hotel, and the boys were then called back for an audition. Despite being set in Manchester, the scene itself was actually shot in London.
Teddy has been acting since he was born, quite literally. In 2009, at three weeks old, he was Maria Connor's newborn baby in Coronation Street. From there, he stayed on the agent's books and has racked up an impressive list of credits.
The teen, from Worsley, has starred in adverts for Amazon, eBay, John Lewis and NOW, sometimes alongside his brothers. He's also appeared in the 2022 film Your Christmas Or Mine and is the voice of Marcus in children's animated TV series The Brilliant World of Tom Gates.
He also landed a role in Hollywood film Batgirl, based on the DC Comics character. Despite filming for it, the release was unfortunately scrapped.
Middle brother Oscar, meanwhile, has appeared on medical drama Casualty and played Jimmy in the 2022 film The Railway Children Return, alongside Sheridan Smith. Youngest brother Bertie has also starred in a plethora of adverts, including Aunt Bessie's and Ovo Energy.
The three brothers attend Small Screen Talent in Salford, a screen acting school and agency. It's run by Hollyoaks star Ross Adams, who plays Scott Drinkwater in the Channel 4 soap.
On the boys' Ted Lasso scene, Ross said: "They've been amazing. [The scene] has had a great reaction online as well, all the Ted Lasso fans are obsessed with the three boys and just how mean they are to Jamie."
The soap star, who previously studied drama at the University of Salford, told the Manchester Evening News: "The Wallwork brothers have had a really, really good couple of years and I’m super proud of them. With any acting job, no matter how old you are - whether you’re seven or whether you’re in your 30s, 40s, 50s - the competition is fierce.
"They’ve got a really great track record and they deliver when it comes to auditions." He added: "Teddy is only 13 and he’s probably got more credits on his CV than I do on mine, which is incredible!"
Ross set up Small Screen Talent, which also has a branch in Wigan, in 2016. As a child growing up in the North East, Ross knew he wanted to act on TV, but he could only find drama schools which trained in musical theatre.
His experiences inspired him to start up the talent school, solely for TV training, and it's grown over the past seven years. On his schools in Wigan and Salford, he said: "They are both areas that might not be considered as being particularly wealthy, they’ve both been considered quite deprived in the past.
"Talent in those areas can be overlooked, so it was important to set up in those areas because there is so much raw talent in Salford and Wigan. If we weren’t around, they might not necessarily be on the radars of these directors. Even now it is so London-centric and the majority of the big auditions and castings happen in London - like Ted Lasso."
It's a rewarding job, and Ross takes pride in seeing his students progress - not just with the roles they book, but within themselves too. He added: "I love to see the kids do well and I love it when they’re working, but I also like to work with the kids who come to us and maybe don’t have much confidence and within six or seven classes, their confidence starts to rise - I love that just as much."
As for the busy Wallwork brothers, who also play rugby league, this is just the beginning. They have plenty more projects on the way, having recently flown out to Portugal and the Czech Republic for jobs.
Bertie is eager to land his first film feature, and all three have ambitions of one day scooping big industry awards.
Claire said: "All the boys at the moment are staying focused on acting. The dreams of an 'Oscar' for Oscar have been present for a long time and the dream of a BAFTA for the other boys is the ultimate destination."
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