A London Colney-raised plumber swapped his tools for the big screen with an appearance of one of TV’s hottest programmes – Game of Thrones.

Winston Davis, a former pupil at Francis Bacon School and Verulam Boys School, got his big break – and first ever TV part – on the hit show recently, playing a tough guy who tries to mug one of the main characters.

Winston, who runs his own plumbing and heating company, credits Francis Bacon for giving him nhis first taste of acting and has had a “thing” for it ever since.

He was flown out to Croatia to film his scene for Game of Thrones after a whirlwind experience in auditioning for the role.

He said: “The only problem was that my wife was booked in to give birth to my third son that same day!

“My agent spoke to the producers, who were really understanding and agreed that I could be there for the birth, but that I would need to fly out the next day!”

He added that “coupled with it with it being the same week my son was born, it was the most amazing week of (my) life”.

He went on: “There was a moment where I actually asked my co-star, Tom Fava, to pinch me as it was so surreal being on set!

“I was stood there between takes and had four women attending to me, one sorting my costume, one on my microphone, one touching up my make-up and another one who had a strip sponging my sweat from my forehead!

“At that moment, it was like ‘Yes, I’ve made it!’”

The morning after filming he had breakfast with Maisie Williams, who plays Arva Stark and was the main character in the scene.

He said: “She was a true professional and very focused for someone so young.

“Working with her taught me a lot in the time we spent together, in how she handles the pressure of being on the show and what it’s been like for her basically growing up in it.”