5 MINUTES WITH...

Hugh Grant, 57, starring as disgraced member of parliament Jeremy Thorpe, in the BBC’S fantastic historical three-part drama…

Could you tell us the back story? Jeremy Thorpe was the leader of the Liberal Party for a time in the ’60s and ’70s. He was very successful and charming, and he harboured a secret – which was that he was gay, and specifically that he’d had one particular affair in his 30s. Jeremy Thorpe was plagued by this man, and in the end, he appears to have ordered his friends to try to have his ex-lover – Norman Scott – murdered. What’s it like to play him? It was an easy thing to say yes to. It’s a blo*dy good, fascinating character – a man of charm, wit and political talent, who at the same time has a very dark side. I’ve done a lot of research. There’s very little I don’t know about the whole affair – I took a very deep Jeremy Thorpe bath… And what about the transformation from Hugh Grant to Jeremy Thorpe? It’s a work of genius. I’ve got brown contact lenses, plus the very distinctive Jeremy Thorpe hair. They’ve given me much more of a five o’clock shadow, and he was gaunt – so I bought a bicycle and went hairing round Richmond Park for three months and lost about six kilos. Then, I had some wonderful suits made in the Jeremy Thorpe style – he loved a doublebreasted waistcoat, and he had a ridiculous watch chain. Do you find it tricky playing a historical figure? It’s a little thorny. As part of my research, I met people who knew him very well. About half of them said it was inconceivable that he would have ordered harm to another human being – and then there was the other half, who said they did think he had a dark side…