It's good to play nice for a change

James Norton was so convincing as a murderous psycho in the crime drama Happy Valley that taking on another villainous role was almost irresistible.

- SARA WALLIS

The lure of playing a baddie in a miniseries must have been even greater when it was his production company's first big TV project. Out in the new year, it is called Playing Nice and James decided to do just that.

So instead of being the dastardly and underhand Miles, he took the role of nice guy Pete in the heart-stopping psychological drama about two couples whose babies were switched at birth.

James, 39, took the decision to surprise audiences and to avoid being typecast. Something he has done successfully in his 15-year career.

He says playing Tommy Lee Royce in Happy Valley at the same time as sleuthing vicar Sidney Chambers in detective drama Grantchester had been "a real blessing".

His versatility was further reinforced by two more brilliant roles - Andrei Bolkonsky, opposite Lily James and Paul Dano, in a dramatisation of War & Peace, and the lead in the crime thriller McMafia.

Hardly surprisingly, he has been heavily rumoured to take over as James Bond from Daniel Craig.

James, who admits he is lucky enough to be sent lots of fantastic scripts explains why he likes variety.

"You do a Second World War drama, and you get to go and be a historian in the British Library for however long and have an emotional connection with that particular piece of history."

He adds: "If you do it really well, then you're going to get a few more offers for Second World War dramas coming your way.