Actor Rudi Dharmalingam has built a successful career across stage and screen . . . but his role in table tennis is among the most important he has played.

Rudi plays the male lead in the upcoming Channel 4 drama Hunting Alice Bell, alongside the likes of Simon Pegg, Ralf Little and Amanda Abbington.

His CV includes the play History Boys, alongside James Corden, The Split, The Lazarus Project, Great Expectations and the acclaimed Australian drama Wakefield, for which he received a Best Actor nomination. He has the feature film Control, starring James McEvoy and Julianne Moore, and Extraction-Tygo for Netflix due for release early next year. Hunting Alice Bell will launch on Channel 4 on Wednesday 11 November at 9pm.

But alongside his acting career, table tennis has become a major part of his life as co-founder of Pingsters Table Tennis Club in Worthing.

In our video out now on YouTube, he talks about his twin passions of acting and table tennis.

Rudi first picked up a bat at the age of seven after bringing home a letter from school advertising table tennis sessions.

“I vividly remember standing on my stairs and asking my mum, who was in the kitchen, ‘can I play table tennis?’, said Rudi.

“That was the start. That was really the discovery of my first hobby, my first interest in life. And it was everything to me. I mean, I wasn’t that good – I got to number two in Kent and 50 in England under-14s, but that was about it.

“I remember playing Andrew Baggaley, I don’t know what tournament it was, when I was about 14 and he was 12 maybe. And it was then I realised that those guys are on another level and I couldn’t really get close to them. So I started to look at other things that I could do.”

Acting took centre stage after success in school drama productions led him to pursue theatre studies, the National Youth Theatre and later drama school.

After stepping away from the sport for around 25 years, a return to table tennis was sparked by the death of his childhood coach, Alan Woolven, someone he describes as “inspirational and a positive role model.”

“I got a message from his daughter, who I used to play table tennis with, that he had passed away.  

“It ignited a passion that I used to have as a child playing table tennis. I just thought, I have to give back in some way, shape or form.”

That desire ultimately led to the creation of Pingsters alongside co-founder Neil Bromham. The pair wanted to create a club focused as much on friendship and community as competition.

“I did a Table Tennis England level one coaching course at Ellenborough, I felt very passionately  about making sure that table tennis was an integral part of my life. 

“It was about finding more to my life than my career. I think it’s really important that everyone has something in their life apart from their job, not just for physical benefits and mental wellbeing, but also something more community driven being, being part of something bigger than themselves.

“Neil and I felt that there was a need in our local community for a table tennis facility that prioritised the social and fun side of table tennis.

“Not everyone wants to do the Falkenburg technique over and over again, sometimes they just want to turn up, have a knock, have a chat and connect with other people on a more spiritual level than just training, training, drills, drills, drills. So that became the whole ethos of the club.”

That is not to say competition is not important – the club has made its Senior British Clubs League debut and is hosting a Veterans’ 1* tournament on 14 November. Entries are still open for the tournament – click here to enter.

Away from the table, Rudi continues to enjoy a flourishing acting career which really began to take off when he was cast in the play The History Boys in 2004, alongside James Corden, Russell Tovey, Richard Griffiths and others.

“I moved to London, I did a world tour, I went to Broadway. I managed to get a great agent. I think that was the turning point for me,” he said.

“More recently, I did a TV show called Wakefield in Australia about four or five years ago, which was an opportunity for me to play a really layered and textured lead role, over the course of eight episodes which was a learning experience for the medium of TV acting as well.”  He received a Best Leading Actor nomination in the AACTA Awards for his role in Wakefield.

Rudi is set to appear in upcoming Channel 4 drama Hunting Alice Bell, which begins on 11 November. The six-part series, written by David Baddiel, explores the impact of online speculation and social media hostility on a group of women accused of being linked to a notorious serial killer.

The cast also includes Simon Pegg, Ralf Little, Amanda Abbington and Alexandra Roach, who plays his on-screen wife.

“David Baddiel was a very big part of my childhood and so I was very honoured to work with him, said Rudi. “I’ve seen it, and I’m really happy with it. It’s really compelling viewing. I think it’s a take on the whodunnit genre and everyone loves a whodunnit.”   

Despite his success on stage and screen, Rudi believes many of the qualities that have helped him as an actor were first learned through sport.

“The discipline, the structure, the work ethic, the empowerment that sport can cultivate” are all invaluable, he said. “When I’m working as an actor, I like to approach all of my roles with an athlete’s mentality in the sense that I focus, I concentrate, I commit.”

Watch the video for more, including which famous actor isn’t as good at table tennis as he thinks he is . . . and check out the official Hunting Alice Bell trailer below! Hunting Alice Bell will launch on Channel 4 on Wednesday 11 November at 9pm.