I’m more than a matinée idol
As ‘Grantchester’ returns to ITV, its star James Norton tells Ben Lawrence that he refuses to let his looks define his career
James Norton has cut-glass cheekbones, hair that’s an artistic shade of blond and light brown eyes across which emotions drift like rain clouds. He is constantly objectified by female fans (the curious should look out for websites with names such as Norton Addiction), and yet it is the words of his great-aunt, Grainne, which resonate most clearly for the 31-year-old actor. “She said she couldn’t understand why I looked so good on TV because she thought I looked so bland in real life.”
Only someone with a healthy dollop of self-esteem would admit to being thought of as bland, and indeed there is a lack of neurosis about Norton, which I imagine serves him well in a fickle industry. “I look at some people, men and women, who are breathtakingly beautiful and I know they will always play the romantic lead. I did get a jawline at some point, but I don’t feel limited by the roles I’ve been offered. I feel that I’ve been entrusted with parts that are more than just me being the matinee idol.”
Those roles, to date, have included the tragic, brilliant young aristocrat Andre, searching for a sense of purpose away from the ballrooms of St Petersburg in War and Peace; the psychotic thug Tommy Lee Royce in Sally Wainwright’s Happy Valley; and Sidney Chambers, the unworldly, questing, jazz-loving vicar of detective series Grantchester, which returns in a couple of weeks. That show, set in Fifties Cambridge, has been occasionally dismissed as cosy heritage television, but Norton will defend it to the hilt.
“People’s perception is that it’s saccharine and sugar-coated, but really it doesn’t pull any punches and shows how far we’ve come – the fact that a gay man could be sent to prison, the deep-rooted racism – those suffocating parts of the Fifties that we’ve been able to leave behind.” Norton, however, is not simply upbraiding the past. His immersion in the role of Sidney has made him wonder if we are inclined to take our modern freedoms for granted and, indeed, whether the thing we might compartmentalise as “mindfulness” today was a fundamental part of mid-20th-century living. “You see moments of stillness in Sidney, where he is lost in prayer or thought or wrangling with the existential stuff. No one does that anymore. We don’t have enough boredom.”
Faith has been a thread throughout Norton’s life. He was raised a Catholic and, at 13, attended Ampleforth College, known as the Catholic Eton. “My school was archaic, I mean we were surrounded by monks who had taken their vows of celibacy and poverty and dedicated their lives to the rule of St Benedict. But they were also inspirational, particularly when you’re a teenager and confused about a lot of things. I remember one guy who had been in a band and had given up his rock and roll lifestyle in order to live in an abbey in North Yorkshire. To be surrounded by people like him was terribly affecting.”
Norton is no longer a practising Catholic, although he admits to being still intellectually curious about the faith that shaped his formative years. He admires the way in which Pope Francis is dragging Catholicism into the 21st century and believes that institutionalised religion is often a necessity. “It is a human construct, and although it’s fallible, it is a crucial way for some people to explore their sense of the divine.” He also believes it can offer more: “Through my parents, I met a vicar who was a traditional Anglican and I went to see him at his church. What struck me was that they [his parishioners] turned to him for more than just spiritual guidance. He is a
remarkable force in that little community.” While filming Grantchester, Norton says that it has become clear that fans sometimes blur fiction and reality. When the position of vicar at the real
Grantchester became vacant, he had a letter suggesting he might apply. When he’s on set, dressed in a dog collar and robed, people come up to him and start asking him about a thorny passage in, for example, Mark, Chapter V. I suggest that he might be well-equipped to engage, given that he graduated from Cambridge with a degree in theology. “Honestly, I would have no idea,” he laughs. “Much of my degree was in Hinduism or Buddhism, I’m really not up on Christian theology.” It must be strange, I say, that Norton is back in a city which was a defining part of his past, but is now inhabiting a fictional world. “I take Robson [Green, who plays Sidney’s sidekick Geordie Keating] and other members of the production punting on the Cam and give them my version of the Cambridge tour, which is basically just people falling out of trees or jumping over bridges. It’s nice to have the opportunity to be nostalgic and share that with new friends.”
Grantchester has done for Cambridge what Inspector Morse did for Oxford and Norton says that filming can become incredibly intense when a crowd gathers. He hasn’t experienced anything that would suggest stalking and believes the goodness of Sidney’s character filters down to the show’s fans. Has he received marriage proposals? He is, after all, perfect husband material. “I am definitely not perfect husband material,” says Norton.
I say that I mean his character, Sidney, but Norton seems unsure. “I don’t know. He’s got commitment issues and any woman would have to be a lover of Sidney Bechet…”
Norton has a dry sense of humour and seems determined not to take himself too seriously. He lives in Peckham and is dating his War and Peace co-star Jessie Buckley who, one assumes, is sanguine about his female fans. One only wonders at the eruption of hysteria should Norton become James Bond. His is a name that surfaces at regular intervals in the speculation over who replaces Daniel Craig. Has he thought about it?
“Well, of course, if the question is asked it does make you think about it,” he says. “I mean, there is so much madness about the whole thing, but it is always very flattering to be part of the conversation.”
For now, Norton is busy enough. His projects include a remake of the seminal Nineties hit film Flatliners, in which he co-stars with Ellen Page. Back then, to that question of looks which will become more pertinent as Norton’s stock continues to rise. “You can play up to the looks thing, but I think, ultimately, you have autonomy in how you define your career. Anyway, I think I look quite normal.” Great-aunt Grainne would be proud.
Grantchester begins on ITV on Sunday, April 23 at 9pm
‘The monks at school could be inspirational, especially when you’re a teenager and confused by a lot of things’