TV & Movies
Ackley Bridge’s Hareet Deol Loves A Freezing Cold Swim
When he’s not appearing in C4 soaps, you can find him practising the Wim Hof method.
Ackley Bridge is back on our screens, after a year-long break. The Halifax-based school drama sees staff and pupils navigate life and lessons at a multicultural academy school set in a fictional Yorkshire town.
Hareet Deol, who plays PE teacher Hassan Hussein, will be reprising his role for the fifth series. Mr Hussein joined the cast in Season 2, initially struggling to win over the approval of other staff at the school, specifically Martin Evershed, the new deputy head teacher.
If you think Deol looks familiar, you might have seen him in Casualty. He appeared in the hospital drama in 2020. He shared a series of behind the scenes snaps on Instagram, and captioned it “Casualty Episode airing tonight on bbc one - 7.25pm”, tagging the official Casualty Instagram account as well.
The 26-year-old Leicester native was born in May 1996, making him a gemini. Deol keeps his private life pretty private. His relationship status is unknown, but he seems to be careful to maintain a positive work-life balance.
The actor is interested in spiritual healing and cold water therapy made famous by Wim Hof. The actor posted a video of himself wearing swimming trunks and a knitted beanie hat, practicing breathing techniques in an ice-cold river. He captioned it: “Connecting with the breath and Mother Nature using the WIM HOF METHOD @iceman_hof. It was roughly this time last year when I went to Wim’s event in Reykjavik, Iceland and found his approach to healing using breathing exercises / meditation / cold therapy so profound... all targeted for us living stronger, happier and healthier lives.” He continued: “I’m grateful that I have Wim’s method as on of my tools to pull out especially when out in Nature. Check his page out if you want to know more about him @iceman_hof”
Alongside cold water therapy, Deol is also a keen poet. He shared a spoken word poem to his social media that he had written himself, saying: “Flow came through strong today to share this poem / spoken word that I wrote... feeling blessed to share the Cosmic Vibez with you all “.
Watch Ackley Bridge Season 5 on All 4, the channel’s streaming service.
