Just 15 years old, Mitchell Lawrie faces a special challenge on Friday. The Scottish darts prodigy is one of 24 contestants in the Netflix show Beat Luke Littler, where a staggering £501,000 is up for grabs. To win the prize, Lawrie must beat two-time world champion Luke Littler in a single leg of 501. Remarkably, the young Scot already knows what it feels like to beat a team featuring Littler.

The event will be broadcast live on Friday from the Manchester Central Convention Complex. The 24 contestants will get the chance to take on the 19-year-old world champion. The first player to win two legs against Littler will claim the top prize. As soon as someone succeeds, the show will end immediately.

For Lawrie, who comes from Renfrew in Scotland, that means he must not only beat Littler but also hope he gets his turn at all. "If someone has already beaten Littler, that's the show done,” Lawrie told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast.

“There's a bundle of good players in there and you're just hoping you get a chance before they get a chance. There's a few big names I want to go before.”

“Playing live on Netflix at 15 is really special”

Although Lawrie has already gained plenty of experience at major darts tournaments, he knows that appearing live on Netflix will be a very different challenge. “There's going to be nerves there obviously... being live on Netflix at 15 years of age is just something else.”

Still, the Scot is not prepared to write off his chances against the world number one. He believes the fact that the match is played over just one leg gives him an opportunity.

“Everybody there has a chance at the end of the day. He is obviously the best player in the world so it may be only one leg of darts but it is a very hard leg to win.”

Insiders see Mitchell Lawrie as the next Luke Littler

Lawrie has already beaten Littler at the youth World Cup

Lawrie can also draw confidence from an earlier meeting with Littler. The pair faced each other at a youth team tournament in Gibraltar in 2023. The Scot was part of the team that beat England, with Littler in its ranks.

“It was at the World Cup junior darts in Gibraltar in 2023, Scotland against England and we beat the team that Luke Littler was in,” Lawrie recalled. “We beat them 4-3 in a deciding leg and it's one of those memories that sticks with you forever.”

That was not Lawrie’s only victory. Scotland went on to win the entire tournament, making history in the process.

“We also went on to win that tournament. It is the first time Scotland ever won the World Cup and it was my first year - it was something else. It was a surreal experience that I would love to have back."

From a dartboard on a chair to a World Championship final

Despite his young age, Lawrie has already built an impressive record. Last year, he became the World Darts Federation (WDF) youth world champion. In December, he also became the first teenager to reach the final of the WDF World Championship at senior level.

He lost to Dutchman Jimmy van Schie in the final. The eventual world champion was nevertheless impressed by his young opponent and described Lawrie afterwards as “the future of darts”.

The Scot particularly admires fellow countryman Gary Anderson. The former world number one, a two-time PDC World Darts Championship winner, is his biggest role model.

Lawrie was introduced to darts at a remarkably young age. His grandfather attached a dartboard to a chair when he was just two years old. “It just spiralled from there," he says. "But I never took it seriously until three and a half years ago.”

At first, like many children, Lawrie dreamed of becoming a professional footballer. In the end, though, his talent proved to lie in darts. “People still want to be a professional footballer, and it was the same for me, but I realised at a young age I wasn't good enough for it so I had to do something else and I just chose darts and I stuck to it and turned out quite good at it.”