The tipsy point

From The White Lotus to Industry, how do actors fake being under the influence of booze and drugs? Stars and ‘wellbeing facilitators’ reveal all

Hannah J Davies

I am not a big drinker, I don’t do drugs, I don’t smoke,” says Sagar Radia, best known as the ruthless, potty-mouthed trader Rishi Ramdani in the HBO/BBC banking saga Industry. “But when friends and family watch, they’re like: ‘You look like you do know what you’re doing.’” Nowhere was this more the case than in season three’s White Mischief, an episode focused entirely on the character’s grim descent into gambling addiction, inflamed by booze and cocaine. Rishi starts to look like a disgraced Tory MP in the 90s, as he binges on shots and coke in a seedy casino. At first he’s euphoric – dancing like a drunk uncle at a wedding – but soon his behaviour becomes erratic, his movements shaky and impaired, his legs unsteady. Despite rising debts,…

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Guardian Weekly (Digital) - 1 Issue, 14 March 2025

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