A WINCHESTER University drama graduate is up against the screen’s most famous wizard for a British Academy Film Award (BAFTA).

Jon Pointing, star of Channel 4’s Big Boys, is up for the Best Male Comedy Performance and his fellow nominees include Daniel Radcliffe who played Harry Potter.

Winchester alumni Jon plays laddish loudmouth Danny opposite Dylan Llewellyn’s dweeby Jack in the odd couple sitcom set in a university.

A few years older than his fellow freshers, Danny is trying to live out a lost adolescence while confronting his own mental health issues.

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In addition to Radcliffe for his performance in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, other nominees in the TV male comedy category include Stephen Merchant for The Outlaws and Matt Berry for What We Do in the Shadows.

Jon graduated from the University of Winchester in 2008 and has since appeared in a number of short films and TV shows. His biggest role was in ITV2’s Ancient Rome comedy Plebs alongside Friday Night Dinner’s Tom Rosenthal.

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Senior lecturer in drama at the University of Winchester, Dr Helen Grime, said: “Jonathan was an extraordinarily gifted actor. He performed as Goldberg in a production of The Birthday Party directed by a former colleague. 

“I was in the play with him as Meg and found him to be brilliant and convincing in a role he was around 30 years too young to play.”

Speaking on whether his latest roles brought back university memories, Jon said: “For those three years, that's your world. Like, it's everything. You're in this bubble, where the results and the parties and the relationships and all the stuff that's going on is so important. I always look back on those times with misty eyes.”

The BAFTA Television Awards, hosted by Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan, is on Sunday, May 14.