Life may have altered almost beyond recognition for Joe Dempsie since he became a star of the cult TV show Skins but one thing has remained unchanged - his love for Nottingham Forest.
The 20 year old, who was brought up in West Bridgford, has won widespread acclaim for his portrayal of party animal Chris in the E4 British teen drama.
Dempsie admits he struggled to come to terms with people recognising him in the street and still likes nothing better than to blend into the crowd at The City Ground surrounded by his mates.
"Getting the part in Skins has changed my life and to be honest some of the changes have been easier to get to grips than others," he says.
"The show was advertised and marketed so strongly prior to the first series being aired that there seemed to be an audience who were really interested in it before it had even been shown.
"As soon as that first episode had gone out, that was it - people started recognising me and wanting to talk to me.
"I don't think it's something I'll ever get used to. It's so abnormal and I used to be really, really shy about and knew I went bright red when anyone came up to me.
"I used to have a complex where I worried that people would not find me as interesting as they expected and would be really disappointed in how I came across but I'm better at talking to people these days."
He adds: "Acting was never really something I had set my heart on doing from a young age - it was never my ambition to be an actor.
"But I used to enjoy drama at school when it was compulsory, simply because it was an hour a week when I wasn't stuck behind a desk.
"Then I auditioned to join a drama group in Nottingham, the Central Junior Television Workshop, which was run by ITV. I got in, much to my own surprise, and started going a couple of nights a week after school.
"Because ITV were behind it, I got few auditions for parts on TV and in films and I did a few parts while I was at school but it was always a bit of a hobby and nothing more.
"But once I'd done my A Levels, I decided I wouldn't mind having a crack at trying to progress my acting and took a gap year.
"I managed to get myself an agent down in London through the Workshop and right towards the end of my gap year, just as I was considering taking up my place at Birmingham University to study history, I got an audition for Skins and it's really taken off from there."
Such has been the success of Skins that Dempsie now leads something of a nomadic existence, dividing his time between Bristol, where Skins is produced, and Manchester, where his girlfriend lives.



But Nottingham remains 'home' and visits to The City Ground are a particular highlight of any spare time he gets.
"I don't get to see Forest as often as I used to but I've been along a few times this season," he reveals. "I went quite frequently when we got promoted back up to the Premier League under Dave Bassett and then I had a season ticket until Skins came along.
"I had a season ticket in the 'A' Block for the play-off season in 2002-03 season and then they introduced a rule where you had to be 21 to sit in there, so we moved to 'B' block.
"There were a gang of us who used to go to a lot of away games as well but they are all off at University now, so we don't go that often - although we have been on the on odd away day weekend."
Dempsie, who spent two weeks on work experience with the club's PR and Marketing team as a Year 11 pupil at West Bridgford School, adds: "I went to my first Forest game when we were in the Premier League under Frank Clark in 1994-95 - the season we finished third.
"We played West Ham and it finished 1-1. Looking back, the game probably wasn't that great but I loved it. My abiding memory is of Jason Lee taking the mickey out of Julian Dicks because he was overweight.
"Before that game I'd only ever watched football on TV and I remember asking my dad during the West Ham game where the commentator was? I was only seven or eight at the time and fully expected to hear the commentary while I was watching the game live."

Skins can be seen on on E4 on Mondays at 10pm and on Channel 4 on Thursdays at 10.30pm.