People We Meet on Vacation star Tom Blyth explains why his new film changed his view on the prison system

New prison drama Wasteman – which marks the feature directorial debut of filmmaker Cal McMau – boasts impressive performances from two of the UK's biggest emerging actors, David Jonsson and Tom Blyth.

Last year's BAFTA Rising Star Award winner Jonsson stars as Taylor, an inmate nearing the end of a long sentence. When we meet him, he's in line for an early release, but that situation is put in serious jeopardy when his new cellmate Dee – played by Blyth – arrives and immediately starts exhibiting extremely volatile behaviour.

It's an engrossing and sometimes difficult-to-watch film, which addresses the harsh realities of prison life with grit and authenticity. That was achieved in large part thanks to the collaboration of prison rehabilitation charity Switchback, who worked with the filmmakers to provide a sense of realism that prevented it from falling into prison movie cliché.

Speaking exclusively to Radio Times at last year's London Film Festival, Blyth admitted that his view on the prison system had "definitely" changed by taking part in the project.

"Before doing this, I liked to think that I had some elevated empathy or at least a nuanced way of seeing the prison system," he explained. "But I was very naive, I think, without even knowing it."

He added that having conducted extensive research in preparation to play his character, his main takeaway was that "the prison system is broken and it's over capacity, understaffed, underfunded, and I think the aim of it is misled."

"I think it's not really rehabilitating people, it's like sequestering them away, shoving them all in a small space and hoping for the best," he continued. "And then the problems from outside follow everyone inside, except they're amplified, because it's like a pressure cooker."

It was clear to him now, he added, that a system had to be put in place that was about genuine rehabilitation, one that adopted a more humanist approach.

"I also think that funding and that focus needs to start way before people end up in the prison system," he said. "It needs to start when they're younger, when they're struggling in poverty, don't have access to good schools, don't have access to emotional and psychological support.

"And I think that's the thing. My big takeaway is, if someone like Dee had had infrastructure around him and investment in him as a young man way before, he wouldn't be where he ends up."

Agreeing with Blyth's point, Jonsson admitted that the current system was not one that would be "easy to fix".

"But making this movie wasn't easy," he continued. "And I think that's the wonderful thing about art, sometimes it can really spark a conversation. So if this movie does that as well as thrill people and make them feel a little bit sick, that's great."

Wasteman is released in UK cinemas on Friday 20 February 2026.

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