Love, Faith & Betrayal

Robson Green and James Norton on their special on and off-screen bond, and how Geordie and Sidney are both struggling with affairs of the heart

- Victoria Wilson

It’s a cold, bleak winter’s morning when TV Times visits the set of Fifties period crime drama, Grantchester. Our day is soon brightened up, however, when the ITV show’s star, James Norton, joins us for a chat.

Dressed in full clergyman costume for his role as vicar turned-detective Sidney Chambers James, 31, says he’s thrilled to be back. ‘I love this show,’ he beams. ‘Working on Grantchester is like a group of friends having a reunion every few months and coming back for a party! It’s a fun job.’

Grantchester’s third series picks up from last year’s Christmas special, which saw Sidney’s true love Amanda Hopkins (Morven Christie) give birth to a daughter, Grace, fathered by estranged husband, Guy (Tom Austen). Sidney once again finds himself torn between his role as a vicar and his love for Amanda.

With Sidney’s detective sidekick Inspector Geordie Keating (Robson Green) also dealing with his own matters of the heart this series, it’s reassuring to hear the pair can still rely on each other, helped in part by the warm off-screen friendship between the show’s leading men.

‘Geordie and Sidney’s relationship is what drives this show,’ says Robson, 52. ‘James and I are at that stage now where we know each other’s timing; the shorthand. There’s a genuine love there in front of the lens.’

Here, James and Robson talk teasers for this series, Sidney and Geordie’s ‘bromance’, and those river scenes in series two…

Where do we find Sidney and Geordie as Grantchester returns this week?