![\"BBC\/Hera\/Enda](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/20fb\/live\/6ac85220-c95d-11f0-b163-d7d455ce68d3.jpg.webp\")
BBC\/Hera\/Enda Bowe<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n“Don’t wait for permission.” That’s rising star Ellis Howard’s advice to young artists who are hoping to cut through. <\/p>\n The 28-year-old actor, from Liverpool, says the course of his career changed when a handful of Instagram videos helped him to secure a writing agent and a mentor.<\/p>\n His posts, discussing issues such as inequality, were what got him noticed.<\/p>\n “Do things on your own terms, for yourself and don’t seek permission,” he tells BBC Newsbeat. <\/p>\n “Just make the kind of art that you wanted to see growing up.”<\/p>\n Ellis followed this path when he took on the lead role of 15-year-old Byron in the BBC Three teen drama, What It Feels Like For A Girl.<\/p>\n The series, inspired by the autobiography of trans writer, journalist and campaigner Paris Lees, follows a teenager from a working-class town near Nottingham as they wrestle with their gender identity.<\/p>\n The series, praised by some critics for being “raw” and “heartfelt”, also drew attention to Ellis’ talent. <\/p>\n He has now been named as one of 20 creatives on this year’s Bafta Breakthrough list.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The initiative, supported by Netflix, aims to spotlight people within gaming, TV and film who are on the verge or in the middle of a breakthrough moment.<\/p>\n Ellis says being included in the line-up “means everything” as it feels like “a stamp of approval” on his work. After receiving free arts training in Liverpool at Rare Studio, he secured a place at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. <\/p>\n His past work also includes featuring in the 2022 BBC horror series Red Rose, and he later made his West End debut in Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird. <\/p>\n But he says being included in the Bafta list off the back of What It Feels Like For A Girl is particularly special for him, as he believes having representation of LGBTQ+ experiences on-screen is the “most important thing”.<\/p>\n Ellis, who describes himself as working-class and queer, says the show is a “mirror” for those who can see themselves within the characters, while for others it is a “door into a community that they’ve never had access to before”.<\/p>\n “I think it’s really important to see yourself, to understand that your story is important, and that your life deserves dignity,” he says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The coming-of-age story was released just weeks after the Supreme Court ruled <\/a>that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act “refer to a biological woman and biological sex” in April this year. <\/p>\n The campaign group For Women Scotland had brought a case against the Scottish government arguing that sex-based protections should only apply to people who are born female. The Scottish government had argued in court that transgender people with a gender recognition certificate were entitled to the same sex-based protections as biological women – but it was defeated.<\/p>\n After the ruling, the judge stressed the law still gives protection against discrimination to trans people, but some campaign groups said it rolled back years of understanding. <\/p>\n There are concerns from some advocacy groups that there is a wider pushback against LGBTQ+ representation in entertainment.<\/p>\n A recent report by US-based organisation Glaad<\/a> (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) found a “continual decline” in the number of LGBTQ+ characters on broadcast television, but an increase on streaming services. <\/p>\n Newsbeat has been told media watchdog Ofcom collects some diversity data on actors and presenters employed directly by broadcasters, but not on characters within shows. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Also on the Bafta Breakthrough list this year is Stanley Baxton, a 26-year-old narrative game developer originally from Warrington. <\/p>\n He has created games which he describes as “satirical, horrifying or queer” and reflect specific aspects of his life as a trans man in the UK. <\/p>\n “You never see just a realistic, down-to-earth ‘this is what trans people experience’,” he says.<\/p>\n “It’s often fluffier or a: ‘Oh, we have a trans person in this, but we’re not really gonna talk about it or talk about their experiences’.”<\/p>\n In his previous job at a well-known UK game studio, Stanley says at least half of his team-mates were queer, but their personal experiences weren’t often reflected in what they were making.<\/p>\n “If the games industry refuses to give us the perspective that we have, we just have to force it ourselves,” he says.<\/p>\n “I feel like a slight remedy is the kind of stuff that I’m doing here.”<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/static.files.bbci.co.uk\/bbcdotcom\/web\/20251120-101800-81b2dab7dc-web-2.34.1-2\/grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"BBC\/Hera\/Enda](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/a254\/live\/daa9ada0-c95d-11f0-b163-d7d455ce68d3.jpg.webp\")
BBC\/Hera\/Enda Bowe<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nSupreme Court ruling<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Bafta\/Hollie](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/4e0d\/live\/78ad8840-c95f-11f0-b163-d7d455ce68d3.jpg.webp\")
Bafta\/Hollie Fernando<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/8366\/live\/74a706f0-15d7-11ef-9b12-1ba8f95c4917.jpg.webp\")
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