James Norton: From Russia's War and Peace to Yorkshire's Happy Valley

IF ever James Norton was ever to become a diva, now would be the time to do so.

From the brooding hero of BBC One’s recent all-out adaptation of War And Peace and psychopathic Tommy in the chilling Happy Valley, to the spurned blue blood husband of the eponymous heroine in Lady Chatterley’s Lover and charming vicar Sidney in ITV’s grittier-than-you’d-think Grantchester, he has practically dominated British television over the last two years.

But as much he is in demand, 30-year-old Norton, who lives in Peckham in South London, seems unaffected, today treating all the Grantchester crew on set to ice cream as a surprise - and cutting his precious lunch break short to squeeze in interviews.

Outwardly, his star continues to rise, but the actor - who will begin a stint in West End show Bug in March - confesses that he still feels “slightly nervous” that the work will dry up.

“I think it’s that thing about being brave to sit and wait, and spend some time making sure that it’s the right one,” he says, of the never-ending quest to line up jobs.

“People say it must be weird [for me to be having a moment]. I don’t know why, but nothing really changes,” he adds.

“Already, I’m calling my agent every so often, going, ‘Should I be getting worried about this year? Can we get an audition or two?’ And she’s like, ‘No, let’s wait, wait, wait’.”

The son of two teachers, who Norton notes are the “perfect antidote” to the showbiz circles he now moves in, he counts wild swimming as one of his hobbies and was brought up in Yorkshire, where he attended Ampleforth College.

Norton, who was raised in Malton, has said in the past that his love of performing began at his old North Yorkshire school.

“Back then it was an all-boys school,” he told The Yorkshire Post in 2014, “and for some reason best known to them, the masters and monks in the drama department always used to cast me in the female roles. There were plenty of opportunities for drama and the staff were wonderful, they really fired you up. It’s a beautiful place, in a magical, mystical setting.

“While I was there I even managed to get three weeks of work experience at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. I was only 15, and as an insight into what went on, it was completely invaluable. There were also one or two slightly bonkers people there, being rather eccentric, but that made it all the more enjoyable and fascinating. It could have put me off acting and the theatre for life, but I actually think it flicked the switch.”

Despite an interest in acting, he went on to study theology at Cambridge University, although he spent most of his time with the various theatre societies.

“It was a case of a bit of learning, with a lot of acting thrown in. Looking back, I can’t think of a drama or acting group that I wasn’t a member of. We did some decent stuff, but also some absolute rubbish.

“I think that the worst experience I ever had was taking a show - luckily I’ve forgotten the title - to the Edinburgh Fringe one year, and, in the middle of what was supposed to be an energetic sex scene on an Ikea table, the thing broke and we both ended up on the floor. The audience thought it was hysterical.”

After university he went travelling before enrolling at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (where he was Tom Hiddleston’s mentee: “He’s the most hard to contact mentor in the world, he’s always so busy!”), where he studied for three years until 2010.

Since then, Norton has chalked up an impressive roll call of work, beginning with a brief appearance in Carey Mulligan’s breakthrough movie An Education, along with the pin-up status, which he says is “weird but flattering”.

Mind you, it sounds as though his family can help keep any inflating ego in check. Recalling a lunch for his grandfather’s 90th birthday, Norton reveals how his great-aunt piped up with her thoughts on his looks...

“She goes, ‘I don’t get it. You’re much better looking on film than you are in real life’,” he says with a short laugh. “I’m just lucky the camera’s kind.”

He believes his ever-changing hair is the reason he’s rarely recognised in public, before admitting that his mum wasn’t too happy about him getting a buzz cut for the new series of Happy Valley. “She said, ‘Can you not speak to the producers and make it a little bit longer?’”

After a spell of playing psychopath Tommy, going back to Cambridge to shoot Grantchester was a pleasant change in pace.

With a new addition in Neil Morrissey, who plays a grieving father, as well as Robson Green who returns as gruff police inspector Geordie, this series begins in 1954, when murderers were still hanged, and sees Sidney and Geordie facing up to the consequences of becoming such an accomplished crime-fighting duo.

The pair soon attracted attention when they filmed on the university city’s King’s Parade.

“We had about six or seven rows of people with their cameras, which was quite disconcerting,” Norton reveals.

“I’ve never had that before. Robson is so charming and he’s such a good example of someone who has endless people come up and ask him for his time, and I never saw him give it up begrudgingly.”

Like Grantchester, Happy Valley is now in its second series (but has been lambasted with complaints about poor sound quality), and Norton admits there were nerves about matching its success.

“The last series, we were the underdog, we had everything to prove so nothing to lose. But now, with the success of the first series, of course there’s that inevitable second series fear,” he explains.

“I think Sarah Lancashire [who plays series lead Sergeant Catherine Cawood] takes on so much responsibility. She takes the brunt of it and it’s emotional, physically exhausting for her. I know why she’s nervous because it’s gruelling.

“It can never be exactly what it was, the tone of it is different. Sally Wainwright’s such a talented writer, I think she’s taken intentional steps to make it a slightly different feel, different structure. It’s as good. I think it’s as powerful, if not better. That’s why I wanted to be in more of it.”

And it’s the opportunity to work with the Wainwrights of this world here in the UK, that puts Norton off laying down roots in the US.

“I’d go there to work and happily live out there to do a job, but at the moment, I would never want to move. I love London and my family are here and my friends. I like LA in doses, but don’t think I could live there.

“I don’t have any desperate need to rush over there and attach myself to a seven-year deal,” Norton adds. “It’s all about variety.”