Arthur Hughes was born with a rare condition, but the disabled actor hasn’t let that stop him from dreaming big – and that includes appearing in some of this year’s best TV shows such as The Jetty.
In 2024, he landed his breakthrough role in Disney+’s Shardlake, as well as joining the ensemble cast in Jenna Coleman‘s The Jetty. He’s also a fierce advocate of disability rights.
In June 2022, he became Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) first disabled actor to play Richard III at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Not bad at all for an Aylesbury lad…
Here’s everything you need to know about The Jetty star Arthur Hughes, including his TV and film roles so far, his disability, and his relationship status.
Who plays Liam in The Jetty?
Actor Arthur Hughes portrays Liam in The Jetty. First appearances suggest that Liam may be responsible for a fire deliberately started at a boat hut. He and his family are well known trouble makers in the lakeside Lancashire town…
But not everything is as it seems. In the four part drama, Wilderness actress Jenna Coleman portrays widowed detective Ember Manning. She discovers that the happy memories of her own past might not be as idyllic as she remembers as she investigates her latest case.
BBC One describes the four-part crime drama “as much of a coming-of-age story as a detective thriller”. They told us it asks “big questions about sexual morality, identity and memory in the places that Me Too has left behind”.
It’s a tense and atmospheric crime drama in which Detective Manning is called to investigate when someone with a grudge deliberately starts a fire in the boat hut her husband used to own…
And that’s just the first thing that goes horribly wrong for her that day…
Who is the disabled actor Arthur Hughes in The Jetty? What’s he been in?
Arthur Hughes has been on our TV screens ever since 2012, when he first appeared in one episode of Doctors. He played Danny Hooper. The next year, he popped up in the mini series Listening to the Dead as Joe. In 2014, Arthur portrayed Jacko in Agatha Christie: Ordeal by Innocence.
It was in 2018 that Arthur arguably won his biggest role to date playing Ryan in the shape-shifting series The Innocents. Next, he played Tim opposite Stephen Graham in the heart-wrenching feature film Help.
In 2022, he played disability activist Alan Holdsworth in the BBC’s Then Barbara Met Alan. This year, there’s no stopping Arthur. He played the leading role in the Disney+ drama Shardlake, opposite Sean Bean. Now, he’s playing Liam in The Jetty.
Radio 4 and podcast fans will know Arthur as the voice of Ruairi Donovan in The Archers. His multiple theatre roles have included Laurent in La Cage aux Folles, Phil in The Solid Life of Sugar Water, and the title role in Richard III for the Royal Shakespeare Company. He became the first disabled actor to play Richard III for the RSC, who reportedly suffered from scoliosis.
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, Screen International named Arthur Hughes as one of its 2023 Stars of Tomorrow.
What is Shardlake actor Arthur Hughes’ disability?
Arthur Hughes was born with radial dysplasia, a rare condition in arms that affects one in 30,000 people. For Arthur, he has a disfigured right arm and he identifies as “limb different”.
Speaking to Disability Horizons in 2022, he said: “Radial dysplasia is a condition in the arm, where the radius bone is missing. It affects my right arm. I’m missing my thumb, radius bone and a few other small bits and pieces.
“Day-to-day, it doesn’t affect me 99% of the time. I favour my left arm more, but am always finding new ways to make my right arm work for me too.”
Addressing the barriers he faces living with an upper-limb difference, he said: “The barriers I face aren’t always very visible ones and not usually to do with access as such. In the profession I’m in, you can be judged very quickly at a first glance, which may rule you out for certain jobs and castings because you have one arm a different size and shape to the other.”
He added: “Not often, but sometimes, I’ll have people stare or comment in public, which isn’t pleasant but thankfully quite rare. Another issue is often being underestimated in what my limitations are based on how I look.”
Speaking to The Guardian in 2024 about his role in Shardlake, he said: “I think this is why being a disabled actor playing this part is so important. Just to know what it’s like to be stared at, to know what it’s like to feel different, or like people are wary of you or don’t know what to do around you.
“That’s why disabled actors should play disabled characters.”
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Is Arthur Hughes married?
It is not known if Arthur Hughes is in a relationship. The actor is known for keeping his private life out of the public eye. A friendly stalk of his official Insta shows all work and no play for The Jetty star.
His account showcases his career, but offers little glimpse of his personal life.
How old is Arthur Hughes? Where is he from?
Arthur Hughes was born in 1992 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
He is currently thought to be 31.
As a teenager, he attended Aylesbury Grammar School, and graduated in 2013 from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.
Read more: The Jetty on BBC One: The cast, start date, filming locations and eerie soundtrack
The Jetty starts on Monday, July 15, 2024 at 9pm on BBC One. Episode 2 airs on Tuesday, July 16, 2024 at the same time. All episodes are now on BBC iPlayer.
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