How to Date Billy Walsh on Prime Video is a coming-of-age drama with Heartstopper star Sebastian Croft as a teen who's secretly in love with his lifelong best friend Amelia (Bridgerton star Charithra Chandran). But then a US transfer student Billy Walsh (Cobra Kai star Tanner Buchanan) sweeps Amelie off her feet, and heartbroken Archie must try every trick in the book to keep them away from one another.
The movie also stars comedy big-hitters such as Nick Frost, comedian Guz Khan and Motherland’s Lucy Punch. Here’s everything you need to know about How to Date Billy Walsh…
How To Date Billy Walsh release date
How To Date Billy Walsh launches on Prime Video on Friday April 5 2024. The 98-minute movie had previously been announced by Amazon Prime as starting on Friday, September 8, 2023 but the launch date moved to the current 2024 one.
Is there a trailer for How To Date Billy Walsh?
Yes there's an official trailer and a teaser trailer for How To Date Billy Walsh released by Amazon which you can see below. Lots of dating twists! This looks fun!
How To Date Billy Walsh plot
How to Date Billy Walsh follows teenagers Amelia (Charithra Chandran) and Archie (Sebastian Croft) have been best friends since they were children and have always had one another’s backs. But Archie has never told Amelia he’s always been in love with her. Then, just as Archie builds up the courage to declare his feelings, Amelie falls for new American transfer student Billy Walsh (Tanner Buchanan).
Archie is devastated and tries everything to keep them away from each other but his attempts only serve to push Amelia and Billy closer together. Will Archie lose his best friend and the only girl he’s ever loved?
It all goes back to the first day of spring term, Archie decides that today is the day he will finally tell Amelia that he loves her. He and his driver William (Nick Frost) pick her up on their way to Heathbrook in a Rolls Royce, as has been their usual routine for many years. Archie has an air of confidence about his decision and the plan that he has constructed. This is all squashed however when Billy Walsh makes his roaring grand entrance to Heathbrook Academy on a Harley Davidson. Everyone’s eyes are on him, including, to Archie’s dismay, Amelia’s.
Despite this, Archie decides to continue with his plan to tell Amelia how he feels. As they have lunch together in the canteen, he begins to execute his plan in phases. Phase one is to secure her evening. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get much further than phase one before Amber (Daisy Jelly), the meanest, most popular girl in the school and leader of the Eyebrow Crew, deliberately knocks over Amelia’s tray. However, he continues. He tells her that they are playing ‘Night of the Living Dead’ at The Savoy after school, and just as he is about to invite her, Billy Walsh enters the canteen. Archie tries to convince Amelia that Billy is clearly a douchebag, when a shy girl, Penny, trips over and spills her milk. Billy smiles at her to ease her embarrassment and gives her his milk, proving Archie wrong. The entire canteen is fixated on Billy Walsh, where he chooses to sit will determine his social status within the school. To everyone’s surprise, he chooses to sit alone.
Later that evening, Amelia and Archie make their way to The Savoy. Archie has an entire plan that he has set in motion. However, it all goes horribly wrong when he goes to tell Amelia that he loves her, and she tells him that she loves Billy Walsh. The evening ends awkwardly, Amelia knows that Archie is upset that she is in love with Billy, but she is unsure why.
The race is now on for Billy Walsh between Amelia and Amber. A few evenings later, Archie and Amelia’s families have dinner together. George and Lilly (Lucy Punch), Archie’s parents gush about the revitalization of their love life to Rupert (Kunal Nayyar), Amelia’s father, a lonely widow whose wife passed away when Amelia was only 9 years old. When asked what they did to rejuvenate their love life, Lilly and George reveal to Rupert that they went to a man called the Love Doctor to fix their marriage. They encourage Rupert to talk to his new bookkeeper Maggie who he seems to be fond of.
With only four weeks to go until the annual summer ball, Amelia’s anxiety begins to set in when she sees Amber and Billy interacting in the hallway. She begs Archie for the details of the Love Doctor who helped his parents. In a moment of anguish, he tells her that Billy would never go for her anyway because she is at the bottom of the school’s eco system. Clearly hurt by this, Amelia gives him the cold shoulder. When Archie arrives at her house in the morning with William to pick her up, he finds out Amelia already left on her bike without him. When he gets to school, he spots her sitting alone in the canteen and heads over to join her. She ignores him, gets up and leaves.
Archie decides to bite the bullet and he gets Amelia to meet him at their childhood hangout so he can give her the love doctor’s number. They share a moment, and she asks Archie if he is in love with her jokingly, but also with a twinge of seriousness. Archie panics and brushes off the comment...
How To Date Billy Walsh cast — Sebastian Croft on playing Archie 'Archibald' Arnold
Sebastian Croft plays lovelorn student Archie Arnold in How To Date Billy Walsh.
Sebastian says: "I always say it's like Ferris Bueller's Day Off meets Bridget Jones with a little bit of Fleabag. We all just wanted to make an old school John Hughes style film with good, hearty, lovable characters. The script was so charming and lovely; I couldn't wait to get cracking on it. There are some parts that in your heart you are drawn towards, and this was one of them. Equally, I was slightly terrified at the task I was about to undertake. The writing is so great because it throws you right into the climax of it all and then you have to wait another hour to figure out how you got there and what's going to happen. I loved that. It felt like a circus that Archie was the showman in the middle of. For me, the entire film is a little boy's imagination of what it's like to fall in love for the first time. Everything's heightened and I think the reality may have been a bit more boring, but in Archie's head, this is how it went down.
"Archie talks to the camera, which is something that, if done well, can be really interesting. If done badly, it can be awful. So, Alex spoke a lot about the camera as a person and a character. I was aware that whilst there were some silly moments, it's a film with a real heart. For me, the journey is all about Archie finding the bravery to be honest about how he feels. Archie is a knight on a quest, he goes into this mayhem to follow his heart and to find his truth. He doesn’t really care what anyone else thinks, apart from Amelia."
* Previously Sebastian Croft played Ben in the Netflix series Heartstopper and also Heartstopper 2. He lent his voice to the character of Peter in animated movie Where is Anne Frank?. He’s also starred in Game of Thrones, playing the young Nedd Stark, Penny Dreadful, Wonderwell, The Hippopotamus and Love, Death & Robots.
Charithra Chandran on playing Amelia Brown
Charithra Chandran plays Archie’s best friend, and crush, Amelia Brown.
Charithra says: "Amelia’s journey in this film is one of self-growth. She starts off as a young girl and she blossoms into a young woman. When you're 17, you're figuring out love, you're figuring out friendships and essentially who you are. I'd say it's like the pivotal moment of self-growth.
"When I first read the script, I was taken away by how charming it was. You can't help but smile reading through it. I really hope that when people watch the film, they feel that way. We want this to be a Sunday rainy day movie. Maybe you're feeling a bit poorly or you're feeling a bit tired. You just want to put a film on that’s like a hug. A hug in a movie is what I think this is.
"What I enjoyed most about the story is how Billy, Archie and Amelia are not what they seem on the surface. On the surface, they could easily be interpreted as some sort of stereotype, but they’re so much richer than that. Essentially, I think one of the biggest lessons of the movie is, don't judge a book by its cover. All the characters are complex, and they all go on a journey."
* Charithra Chandran is well-known for playing Edwina Sharma in Bridgerton season 2 and has also starred in Alex Rider, Class S and The Parables Retold. Charithra lent her voice to Annisoukaline in Star Wars: Visions.
Tanner Buchanan on playing Billy Walsh
Tanner Buchanan stars as Amelia’s love interest Billy Walsh.
Tanner explains: "I loved the script when I read it, it was extremely funny but also had that nostalgic feel, like a John Hughes film. It’s big and broad, but also grounded. It's about friendships and relationships and figuring out who you are as a person. It’s that time in high school that feels like the most important time in your life when you’re in it.
"It starts off mid-school year and Billy has just transferred from America. He's supposedly the cool guy. He's got that persona going on and has a certain aura about him. Deep down though, this is his chance to start over as he's probably been in the wrong crowd back in America. Now he has the opportunity to really try to figure out who he is as a person. I really think this is his chance to start over, rebrand himself and figure out who he is as a person going forward and growing into being an adult."
* Tanner Buchanan is best known for playing Leo Kirkman in Designated Survivor and Robby Keene in Cobra Kai. He’s also had roles in The Hyperions, He’s All That, Game Shakers, The Fosters and Girl Meets World.
Who else is starring in How To Date Billy Walsh?
How To Date Billy Walsh also stars The Big Bang Theory’s Kunal Nayyar as Amelia's father Rupert Brown, Nick Frost (The Nevers, Sick Note) is Archie's driver William, Lucy Punch (Motherland) is Archie's mother Lily Arnold, Tim Downie is Archie's father George Arnold and newcomer and Daisy Jelley is Amber McKenna. Guz Khan (Man Like Mobeen) also stars as teacher Mr Atkins.
Behind the scenes and more on How To Date Billy Walsh
How To Date Billy Walsh is directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai (Bridgerton) from a script by Alexander J. Farrell and Greer Ellison (Making A Killing). The movie is produced by Matt Williams (Save The Cinema) with co-producer Neil Jones (The Colour Room) both of Future Artists Entertainment. Executive producers include Piers Tempest (Military Wives), Merlin Merton and Sebastian Street (Tomorrow). Further creative credits include director of photography Hamish Doyne-Ditmas (Save The Cinema), production designer Julian Nagel (Been So Long), costume designer Eleanor Baker (The Princess Switch 3), make up designer Chloe Edwards (Breeders) and editor Matt Platts-Mills (Sanditon).
