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Samuel Barnett plays John Everett Millais; a child prodigy who joined the Royal Academy of Art aged only 11. Whilst there, he met William Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, two of his future Pre-Raphaelite brothers. He developed a controversially realistic style of painting, creating works like – the now iconic and widely reproduced – Ophelia.

His other paintings include The Woodman's Daughter, Mariana, The Order Of Release, Christ In The House Of His Parents and portraits of Ruskin and Tennyson among others.

However, contemporaries of Millais would have known him as much for his infamous relationship with the wife of art critic John Ruskin, as his paintings.

Samuel Barnett has acted across stage and screen, most recently in ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two's comedy Beautiful People and the stage and film versions of Alan Bennett's The History Boys. He confesses he was drawn to this project because of the quality of the team behind it, as well as the character of Millais.

"It's a really funny part, plus my character falls in love with the wife of the biggest art critic of the time, Ruskin, and he gets the girl, which is wonderful! I'd seen some of the drama Ben Evans had produced for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Four, Fantabulosa! and Steptoe And Son, his work is of such a high quality. I also knew Franny Moyle, she had executive produced a Wilfred Owen programme I was in and she wrote the book for Desperate Romantics, so the whole thing was a really attractive package."

Peter Bowker's writing was also a draw for the actor: "The scripts are really great and I realised, after reading Franny's book, that Pete has interwoven a lot of quotes from the actual people's letters and diaries into the script, so skilfully and it reads really well as dialogue. It feels really modern too and we were told to make it sound as conversational as possible – I think we've been able to do that."

Samuel revealed he's been familiar with the Brotherhoods' paintings since his youth: "I knew their work because they are my mum's favourite period of art, so we had calendars and posters when I was growing up. But there was still a lot of research to do for the part, which was difficult because a lot of the books I read were just about the art really, they weren't about the people. But Franny's book gave such an insight, I read it really quickly because it's so well written and all about their personal lives."

He admits to an eclectic taste in art and a real admiration for Millais' style of painting: "I like all sorts of art, that's why I love wandering around The National Gallery. I really admire paintings that look like an actual snapshot – I think that's just extraordinary.

"That's what's so special about Millais: flesh – people's actual skin – looks real, for example in The Order Of Release and Christ In The House Of His Parents, it's photographic, it doesn't matter how close you get to the painting, you don't see the brushwork. With Millais' paintings it's microscopic; when he does hair it's extraordinary, you can see every strand. His paintings are my favourites – not just because I'm playing him – I think he's the best artist of the group, technically and also emotionally."

Despite the fact the drama is set more than 150 years ago Samuel is sure it has something for everyone and will appeal to modern audiences.

"You don't have to know anything about the period or the artists; it's a human story and a 'sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll' story as well: this was the period when supermodels and celebrity was born. The use of the printing press meant everyone, nationally and internationally, could see these guys' paintings and the models they used, that was a first – art had never had exposure like that before.

"They were the modern artists of their day and looking at their work now you think 'how can they have been criticised and pooh pooh-ed as young artists with no talent?' The Royal Academy at that time wanted nice, classical-looking, attractive pictures; they thought the Pre-Raphaelites were almost heretical. The critical response was reactionary because they were doing something new – which is what often happens to our modern artists now."

Samuel is no stranger to playing historical characters, having played the war poet Wilfred Owen in a ´óÏó´«Ã½ One drama-documentary. He admits that such roles offer a particular set of challenges.

"The worry when recreating is one of accuracy – you want to be true to life, but in the end you can't worry about it too much, because every actor will do a completely different job. Many actors won't attempt the kind of precision-recreation that Michael Sheen does brilliantly, for example. Equally, it's easier because these are not contemporary characters, so no one remembers what they were like. At the end of the day it's just my take on Millais – someone else might do it differently."

Having started his career in theatre, Samuel has been playing many more roles on screen recently, but he claims he's not getting much public attention in London.

"In New York I get people coming up to me because The History Boys was such a hit on Broadway and they show the film all the time on cable over there, so people recognise you. Someone approached me on the tube here who was a fan of Beautiful People, she said 'I thought you were really good... shame you weren't in it more' and off she got, I thought 'thanks very much!' They say people don't look at one another on the tube – I know that's not true!"