The world of James Norton, actor

James Norton, 30, is an actor best known for his roles in ITV’s Grantchester and the BBC’s Happy Valley, for which he was nominated for a Bafta. Norton was raised in North Yorkshire and read theology at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, before pursuing acting at Rada. Later this year he will play the artist Duncan Grant in Life In Squares, a new drama about the Bloomsbury Group, starting on BBC Two on July 27. Norton lives in Peckham, south London.

Routine I get up around nine o’clock on a regular day and fve or six if I am shooting. I cannot function without a good breakfast: porridge in the winter and muesli in the summer. I grew up in the countryside so I feel guilty if I am inside too much. As a result, every day I have to go out and do something, like riding my bike. Someone once told me I am always trying to overtake London, and they’re probably right. I can get quite manic.

Tuck box I went to boarding school from the age of 11 and loved it. When you’re a boarder your tuck box is the most important thing you own. Tuck was currency, so a well-stocked and well-locked supply was essential. I still have my original box [pictured], which now contains 25 years of jumbled-up postcards, letters and theatre tickets. It has become a store for anything that is important to me.

Religion I have always been drawn to Eastern religions. I don’t practise anything, but as an outsider I fnd their way of thinking fascinating. Before university I travelled around India and Nepal learning about Hinduism and Buddhism, which I went on