James Norton glad that Grantchester and Happy Valley allowed him to show versatility

James Norton will always be grateful that 'Grantchester' and 'Happy Valley' allowed him to show his versatility as an actor.

The 39-year-old star believes that the fact that he was on screen in the two programmes at the same time – in the very different roles of vicar Sidney Chambers and criminal Tommy Lee Royce respectively – was excellent for his career because it highlighted his range.

Speaking to BANG Showbiz and assembled media at a screening for the upcoming ITV drama 'Playing Nice', James said: "The real blessing was having 'Grantchester' and 'Happy Valley' come out almost concurrently because it set me up as someone who wanted to go on those journeys."

Norton revealed that he always plans to take on contrasting parts because he doesn't want to be limited in terms of characters he can play.

He explained: "You do a Second World War drama and you get to go and be a historian at the British Library for however long and then have an emotional connection to that particular piece of history.

"If you do it really well then you're gonna get a few more offers for Second World War dramas coming your way and the brave thing – and this is where I have a great team – is to say no to those and think, 'Right, we're going to go a different route and try and keep learning.'"

James serves as an executive producer on 'Playing Nice' – which centres on two couples who discover that their children were swapped at birth - and admits that he had invested so much into the drama that he found it straightforward playing his alter ego Pete Riley despite his attention often being away from the acting side of things.

He recalled: "I realised when I got on set, that I had actually been in Pete's head for about four years already and actually I felt really empowered as Pete because he grew in that development process.

"It was at first a little nerve-wracking that I hadn't done the work and then I realised I was so embedded in this story because it had been such an intense and thorough process."