When Darren Ashton first saw Michael Theo on “Love on the Spectrum,” he knew he had the ‘it factor’. “He just had a great charismatic presence, that’s the bottom line,” Darren tells host Poppy Reid on the Variety Australia Podcast at JMC Academy’s Sydney campus.

It didn’t take long before Darren approached Theo about a project of their own, an eight-part Australian-British comedy-drama series on ABC iView called “Austin,” which premiered on June 9th to rave reviews and is loosely based on Theo’s personality.