Former Langford boy Ben Whishaw hit our screens last night in the BBC1 thirller Criminal Justice.

Ben, who attended Samuel Whitbread Community College in Clifton, plays the lead role alongside actor Pete Postlethwaite in the gripping drama series.

He plays a young man called Ben Coulter whose life is changed forever after one night, when he goes home with a girl and wakes up to find her stabbed to death in her bed.

The local lad who has shot to fame in the last few years, has been in hit films Perfume - The Story of a Murderer, Layer Cake, and most recently I'm Not there where he played a young Bob Dylan.

Ben, 27, who now lives in London said to the BBC: ""I was thrilled by the script.

"I started to dream about it and talk to friends about it – it got under my skin.

"It was something I felt I had to do, and the story seemed to tap into really primal fears.

"It has a nightmarish quality – it's complex and challenging.

"I felt it would challenge me in big ways."

The five-part thriller is on BBC1 at 9pm for four more consecutive nights with the conclusion being shown on Friday.