Years & Years' Olly Alexander announced as lead role in Russell T Davies tv series

The new series Boys is a five-part drama series set in 1981, and sees Olly Alexander play 18-year-old Ritchie Tozer.

Speaking about his new role, Alexander says, "I feel like the luckiest boy in the world to be a part of this project, I’ve been a fan of Russell T Davies ever since I watched Queer As Folk in secret at 14 years old. His work helped shape my identity as a gay person so I’m absolutely over the moon we’ll be working together. The script was amazing to read, I laughed and I cried a lot, it’s a privilege to be helping to tell this story and I’m so excited."

Boys will be Alexander's first major role as an actor following the success of Years & Years. Before the band took off, Alexander starred in Skins, God Help the Girl, Penny Dreadful, and more.

The series, which will follow the "joy and heartbreak of four friends during a decade in which everything changed" will also star Keeley Hawes, Shaun Dooley, Neil Patrick Harris, Stephen Fry, and Tracy Ann Oberman.

Neil Patrick Harris adds of the upcoming series, "I’m so pleased, and incredibly proud, to be a part of Russel T Davies’ new series. This drama, Boys, is two things: it is an irresistible, funny, jubilant story of young people discovering their true identities and the unalloyed joy of living life to the fullest, it is also a deeply resonant exploration of a decade when so many of these lives were cut short by the devastating effects of the nascent AIDS pandemic. Russell’s scripts chart the highs and lows of this time so beautifully and deftly, it’s an honour to help tell this story."