James Norton opens up on challenge of playing a nice character after Happy Valley fame

James Norton has opened up about the challenge of playing a nice character after terrifying TV fans on Happy Valley.

The 39-year-old actor wowed audiences when he played villain Tommy Lee Royce in the BBC drama Happy Valley.

Now he is set to play a much more timid character in ITV baby-swap thriller Playing Nice - which sees him playing a father named Pete who has to fight for the parental rights to a child.

But taking on a nice guy role has proved to be a challenge for Norton - who was originally intended to play the threatening character Miles, who is instead played by James McArdle.

He told DigitalSpy, "I was really excited by Pete, partly because it was sort of a new challenge and (because of) the conversations around him and his masculinity and avoidance.

"He just felt really pertinent and pressing and challenging. It's a different type of challenge, playing someone who's much closer to yourself. It asks you to be more introspective because I'm not a 'Miles'."

Discussing his nicer character, Norton continued, "I'm much closer to Pete, and so you end up inevitably thinking, 'How close to Pete am I? Would I be confrontational? Would I be able to match Miles?'

"Pete's error is that he thinks by playing nice all the time and being avoidant and basically passive, ultimately things will be okay, and you realise that that's not the case. You have to sometimes play nasty in the face of nastiness."

Playing Nice begins airing on ITV and ITVX at 9pm on Sunday 5 January 2025.