I decided to profile Olly Rhodes (no relation to Robert Rhodes) based on this photo on the teen idol site: black and white, grinning shyly at his boyfriend. Olly is either gay in real life or is playing a gay character.
Olly grew up in Scarborough, a seaside town in Yorkshire, and graduated from the Pendleton School of Theater (like a secondary school in the U.S.), in 2021.
Later he murders police officer Saul Reeves (Chris Charles, left), and frames DeMarcus to get him out of the way. But he kept Saul's ring, which leads to his arrest and confession. He leaves the series crying in his jail cell.
After guest spots in The Last Kingdom and All Creatures Great and Small, Olly was cast in a recurring role on Waterloo Road (2024-25). He plays headmaster's son Billy Savage, who is bedeviled by the bully and child abuse survivor Schuey (Zak Sutcliffe, right). Don't worry, Olly states that they became good friends off-camera.
After numerous incidents, Billy sets a wire trap across a road, so Schuey will be thrown off his bike and humiliated. But he accidentally catches -- and kills -- Schuey's non-bullying sidekick Boz.
Dad plants evidence in Schuey's locker so he'll be blamed for the murder, but eventually he and Billy are both arrested, and leave the series.
Departures (2025) sounds like one of those "dying of AIDS" tearjerkers from the 1980s, but the title refers to the departures gate at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, where Benji and Jake (Lloyd Eyre-Morgan, David Tag) meet and fall in love.
Olly plays the teenage Benji. The trailer shows him kissing his boyfriend, but it goes by too fast to get a screenshot.
More after the break
Olly's most recent on-screen role was in the anthology series The Teacher (2026). He played Sam Simpson, son of focus teacher Helen Simpson and her estranged husband (Steve Edge, left).
There's no picture of Steve Edge in the IMDB, so this may not be the same one, but really, how many Steve Edge celebrities could there be?
Sam befriends troubled Leo (Shak Benjamin), and comforts him when his best buddy dies. In Episode 2, they hold hands and kiss. But then Sam starts dating the evil Cressida, who tries to manipulate him into killing himself over tragedy that he feels guilty about. He rejects her and returns to Leo. The last we hear, the guys are spending the night together.
Whew, and I thought Nik Stahl played a lot of angst-ridden teens! But with one of the four gay, and another either bi or just coming out, I'm impressed.
What about Olly's theatrical work:
An understudy for all characters in Lord of the Flies (2023) at the Leeds Playhouse and on tour.
Jim in Episode 1.3 of the BBC 4 radio play Almonds and Raisins: In early 1900s Manchester, Jewish boy David (Aaron Gelkoff, left) is invited to a party by his non-Jewish buddy -- but it's on the same day as his Bar Mitzvah! There may be a gay subtext.
Benny in Boys (2026), about "a group of young men making the tricky transformationf rom university to adult life." They have heart-to-hearts and monologues at a wild party. After reading several reviews, I don't think any of them are gay.
Olly's social media is inconclusive, containing only photos of his acting roles and co-stars. But at least there's no girl-kissing, which suggests a closeted gay identity.
No beefcake except this one, wearing a swimsuit on a boat. The patch is due to Olly's Type 1 Diabetes.
When there's no beefcake, nude photos are unlikely, but I searched for "Olly Rhodes" and "Oliver Rhodes" anyway, and found this guy. Doesn't look much like our Olly, but seeing a cock is always better than not seeing a cock.
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