Following the recent teary departure of popular Reverend Will Davenport, Grantchester season 9 welcomes a handsome newcomer this week as he roars into the village in a bright red Triumph convertible. But he gets off to a rather rocky - or should that be Rocky? - start with the locals…
"For my first day filming on set, I felt like the new kid at school and my first scene was to punch Robson Green in the face," says actor Rishi Nair - best known for playing Hollyoaks’ Sami Maalik - who takes up the cassock and dog collar worn by departing Tom Brittney’s Will, as the ITV1 drama’s new crime-fighting clergyman, Alphy Kotteram.
Let us explain. It all kicks off when a panicked Mrs Chapman (Tessa Peake-Jones) tells DI Geordie Keating (Robson) the vicarage is being robbed. Unaware the ‘assailant’ is Grantchester’s new man of the cloth, Geordie tries to apprehend him and Alphy defends himself with a mean ‘right hook’!
When Alphy reveals his true identity, Geordie is stunned in more ways than one. Rishi tells us more…
Welcome to Grantchester, Rishi! Thinking about your first audition, is it true Robson Green, as executive producer, had a big role in casting you?
"I did a self-tape first, then had a recall, then my chemistry read with Robson. I’d watched him on TV growing up, so it was exciting and nerve-racking. I arrived early, so hung back for a few minutes, then Robson appeared; he shouted my name, gave me a hug, and we chatted about football and life. We improvised a scene of Alphy and Geordie talking about football - and it made it into the show!"
What’s the dynamic like between Alphy and Geordie?
"Well, because of the way they meet, their dynamic is rocky to begin with. But it’s a great place to start; it gives us the foundation upon which to build on the relationship between Alphy and Geordie and see how it progresses."
Having got off on the wrong foot, when Alphy’s first church service is derailed by accusations of murder, Geordie asks him for help solving the case. How does Alphy respond?
"Alphy’s very anti-police. Growing up as a brown man in Britain in the 1950s, his experience with the police is different to that of Grantchester’s previous two vicars [Will, and Sidney Chambers, played by James Norton], and Alphy tells Geordie he thinks the police are ‘morally bankrupt, power hungry, violent thugs’! Alphy’s first interaction in Grantchester is Geordie trying to arrest him assuming he’s a burglar - so Alphy puts Geordie in that same ‘box’ and refuses to help."
How does Alphy’s arrival address the prejudice and racism that existed in Britain at that time?
"It’s important we addressed those issues but without it being the main point of the show; whether it’s Mrs Chapman (Tessa Peake-Jones) describing Alphy as a ‘swarthy gentleman’ or, later, when Alphy walks into the village pub, everyone stops drinking and looks at him like he’s an alien. It wouldn’t have been truthful if Alphy had arrived in, now, 1962 Grantchester, with no one batting an eyelid and everyone being lovely to him because that just wouldn’t have happened."
Nevertheless, as well as doing God’s work, Alphy soon develops a curiosity for crime-fighting…
"Alphy wants people to judge him by his actions - not the way he looks. Alphy loves to prove people wrong, so he willingly takes on the challenge to help Geordie solve these crimes, and soon realises they have more in common than he first thought!"
What else is coming up for Alphy? And what’s your highlight of filming series nine?
"Obviously, the scene hitting Robson was a real highlight, ha, ha! Episode four was filmed in novelist Barbara Cartland’s house and, without giving any spoilers, the finale is really ‘explosive’. But just being on set was memorable enough. Robson really took me under his wing and everyone welcomed me with open arms and made me feel part of the family. Even the show’s black Labrador Dickens - we hit it off straight away, though I think that’s because I was over-feeding him!"
Grantchester continues on Wednesdays at 9pm on ITV1.
