Norton’s favourite co-star … his father!
‘Dressing up as mad characters’
AS the parent of a successful actor, you might hope for a gushing tribute in an awards speech or even help with the mortgage.
But James Norton’s father prefers to get a little closer to the action. So close, in fact, that retired academic Hugh has already popped up in a series of cameo roles alongside his son.
Since 2015 he has turned up in War and Peace, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Grantchester – and last night made his latest appearance in BBC thriller McMafia.
And this time, Hugh’s usual role of unnamed extra was upgraded to the character of ‘sugar daddy’ on the call sheet. The scene, 20 minutes into the episode, saw him dressed in a beige suit, turquoise shirt and a cravat, talking to two younger men outside a bar.
The appearance might have been fleeting but Hugh still got a taste of the high life, flying out to Croatia for filming.
However James, who plays McMafia’s lead character Alex Godman, may not be encouraging his father to make any more cameos. The 32-year- old told Radio Times: ‘I’m trying to encourage him to do less of it – The One Show did a piece on him and my publicist was like, “Enough is enough – you’ve got to stop!”.
‘But my parents are both retired. They came to Croatia and this time he’s playing a sugar daddy in a Tel Aviv gay bar.
‘He has a suit and a cravat and is flirting with these young boys … It’s very funny. For the first time he wasn’t an extra, he was a featured artist so he was on the call sheet – which is probably framed at home by now.’
Last year James was also joined on set by mother Lavinia, who appeared alongside her husband as an extra in the third series of ITV drama Grantchester.
‘It’s a really great way for him and my mum to see the world,’ James said in another BBC interview. ‘My dad comes and dresses up as these mad characters, and my mum sits on the sidelines and just laughs at him. And they love it.’