[6] Astley beat Sam Baird 10–9 in the first round of World Championship qualifying, but his season ended in his next match with a heavy 10–2 loss to Jamie Cope.

[8] Astley's 2014–15 season proved to be disappointing as he could not qualify for any ranking event, other than the UK Championship and Welsh Open for which he gained automatic entry.

[12] At the 2016 Riga Masters, Astley beat Joe Perry 4–1, Andy Hicks 4–2 and Jimmy Robertson 4–1 to play in the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the first time in his career, where he lost 4–1 to Mark Williams.

Astley progressed through to the fourth round of the Gibraltar Open by 4–1 victories over Andreas Ploner, George Pragnall and Ben Woollaston and was eliminated 4–2 by Ryan Day.

[14] In March 2016, Astley appeared on-stage at the Sheffield Crucible in Richard Bean's play, The Nap, as the opponent of lead Jack O'Connell's character.