A 19-year-old has secured a place at a top university while filming for an upcoming television series.

Zain Hussain, from Leyton, is set to appear in a new HBO show called The Nevers alongside household stars James Norton, Nick Frost and Eleanor Tomlinson.

However, the teen is to fulfill his dream of becoming a barrister after being accepted to study Law at the University of York this year.

It comes a year after the Mr Hussain was left “devastated” of not being offered a place at the university.

The 19-year-old said: “Last year, I was so upset when I missed out on the chance to study law - the months afterwards were really hard.

“But it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. I got to travel across the world and starring in a TV show was just insane.

“Students need to know that it’s not the end of the world if their results don’t go as planned - you have plenty of time to make things right and try other things.”

Zain spent his gap year travelling to over 30 countries, and participating in and delivering talks various international conferences focusing on the UN sustainable development agenda, across NYC, Egypt, and South Korea.

He was notified of his audition being succesful while he was on a plane back from Abu Dhabi.

The former student from Norlington School for Boys in Leytonstone, was astonished to hear he had been given the part and spent his summer filming.

Between shoots, he even managed to boost his History A-Level grade from C to A* after re-sitting the exam.

He added: “It just topped it all off to open my results today and see an A* for my History exam.

“I spent so much time revising on trains and planes between these various opportunities, so it’s such a relief that my hard work actually paid off.”

Mr Hussain insisted that he is firmly committed to his law degree now, noting that his acting career will only ever come secondary to that.

He thanked his teachers at Norlington School for Boys for supporting him through his re-sit and allowing him to realise his true dream.

His final A-Level results were an impressive A*, A and B grades in History, Maths and Computer Science respectively.