Yorkshire is best

Actor and director George Costigan talks to Tony Greenway about his debut novel, filming in Yorkshire and why working with Clint Eastwood was an experience he’ll never forget

- George

‘IT’S bizarre,’ says George Costigan thoughtfully, sipping on a coffee in the York Theatre Royal. ‘I was born in Portsmouth, but I’ve done a lot of acting with a Yorkshire accent.’ Like his breakthrough screen role in Rita, Sue and Bob, Too (set in Bradford); or Calendar Girls (set in the Yorkshire Dales) or, more recently, Sally Wainwright’s lauded TV series Unforgiven (with Suranne Jones) and Happy Valley (with Sarah Lancashire). ‘Yes,’ he says. ‘Lucky me.’

Luck may have something to do with it. Costigan, who is based in North Yorkshire when he isn’t at the family home in France, is one of our best and most gainfully employed character actors. Yet he hasn’t, he admits, always had the golden touch when it comesto choosing projects. Look through his CV and you’ll find a lot more hits: Willy Russell’s Shirley Valentine; an episode of Dr Who by Russell T Davies; Alan Plater’s The Beiderbecke Connection, The Long Firm than misses. Although over the last few years he’s definitely been on a winning streak when it comes to picking plum television roles.

‘I’ve been very, very lucky,’ he agrees, ‘because there’s still the same amount of rubbish on TV that there ever was. So I look back and think this is a very good run. But now the children have left home, I can afford to be more choosey and say no, I’m not doing that, which is a privileged position to be in.’