Aramayo\u2019s had an enviably stacked first month of the year. The Hull-born 33-year-old \u2013 perhaps best known as the diplomatic Elrond in Prime Video\u2019s Lord of the Rings series The Rings of Power<\/a> \u2013 made his stage debut opposite Rosie Sheehy in Guess How Much I Love You? at the Royal Court, an emotionally fraught production about a couple\u2019s unexpected ultrasound results. One week later, he became a Bafta nominee. He was also nominated in the EE Rising Star category<\/a>, where he\u2019s competing against names including One Battle After Another\u2019s Chase Infiniti; talk about several buses arriving at once.<\/p>\n The Bafta recognition launched a month of intense plate-juggling for Aramayo: a surfeit of promotional appointments to sit through in the day, then his evening play duties. In one wild case of tonal whiplash, the actor was whisked to a buzzy party in Knightsbridge \u2013 held for him and his fellow Rising Star nominees \u2013 immediately after coming off stage. If anyone has reason to be exhausted right now, it\u2019s him.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m absolutely knackered, I won\u2019t lie to you,\u201d he laughs. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit of a mental time. You know when you\u2019re at this point in your life where people are just like, \u2018What about that? And what about some of this as well? Can you handle that?\u2019 At what point is your plate a bit too full? I guess I\u2019m going to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n I Swear, set in 1980s Galashiels, charts the early life of Tourette syndrome campaigner John Davidson<\/a>, who begins to develop tics in school, which then evolve into involuntary swearing and unintentionally off-colour outbursts. At the time, the world was not educated on the condition \u2013 his teachers thought he was being disruptive; his parents, rebellious. After a period of intense desolation, he was helped by two crucial figures in his life: his best mate\u2019s mother, mental health nurse Dottie Achenbach (played by Maxine Peake), and community centre caretaker Tommy Trotter (Peter Mullan, also Bafta-nominated). While the film might sound like a slice of tear-jerking schmaltz, in truth it\u2019s anything but \u2013 it\u2019s a whip-smart exploration of Davidson\u2019s frustrations, which acknowledges the uniqueness of his situation while never making him a subject of mockery or pity. The film\u2019s five Bafta nominations \u2013 which include Outstanding British Film and Best Original Screenplay for writer\/director Kirk Jones \u2013 are wholly deserved. But they\u2019re not something Aramayo ever imagined possible when he was cast in the film back in 2024.<\/p>\n I kept meeting all these incredible people who live with Tourette\u2019s. I really, really care about them and their stories<\/p>\n \u201cThe first thing on my mind was John,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI just think back to those early days, and me and Kirk being like, \u2018How are we going to tell this story and do justice to him?\u2019. Then I kept meeting all these incredible people who live with Tourette\u2019s. I really, really care about them and their stories. And now here we are. I never expected any of this. It\u2019s so lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones at first considered casting somebody with Tourette\u2019s, but discovered the pressure placed upon that person would have made the task \u201cnear impossible\u201d. Instead, he ensured the production consulted with people with Tourette\u2019s for ultimate authenticity, and Davidson himself gave the nod to cast Aramayo. But as an actor playing someone with the condition, his responsibility was profound. It was a penny-drop moment that unlocked the role for him \u2013 that the film is about Davidson\u2019s emotional journey; it\u2019s not the tics that define his situation, but the responses to the tics from those around him. \u201cIt was more about settling into John\u2019s centre of gravity, into the way John moves through the world, how John holds himself \u2013 his physicality, his body \u2013 without focusing on the obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Maxine Peake and Robert Aramayo in \u2018I Swear\u2019 (StudioCanal)<\/p>\n Aramayo says Davidson is \u201cover the moon\u201d about the film\u2019s Bafta nominations. \u201cHe\u2019s so passionate about spreading awareness, about how much more education is needed and guidelines for young people and ways that we can still help. So I think anything that helps that mission, he\u2019s excited about it.\u201d He texts Davidson \u201call the time\u201d \u2013 and if he hadn\u2019t been rehearsing for Guess How Much I Love You?, he would have spent part of the Christmas period with the real Dottie in Galashiels, too. (\u201cI\u2019m very, very close with her,\u201d Aramayo says. \u201cAnd we never talk about the film!\u201d)<\/p>\n Aramayo\u2019s plans for Bafta morning are simple: he\u2019ll have a lie-in, then hit the gym to clear his mind. Then he\u2019ll go where he\u2019s told. Whether that will be the Bafta podium to accept an award remains to be seen, but whatever happens, Monday morning will be a far quieter affair: not only will the Baftas<\/a> be out of the way, but Guess How Much I Love You? ends its run this week. So a rest is on the agenda. A mixture of trepidation and relief flashes across his face.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019ll be radio silence!\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n I wouldn\u2019t be so sure.<\/p>\n![\"Maxine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/STILL-06.jpeg\")
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